


Safeword

by OpalizedFossil



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Aftercare, Angst, Blackmail, Cuddling, Dating, Depictions of Abuse, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Feels, First Time, Getting Together, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Kissing, Leash/Collar Play, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Mutual Pining, Near Death Experiences, OC, Oral Sex, Original Character(s), Past Abuse, Pokemon Battling & Chill, Rough Sex, SIKE, Sexual Teasing, Sharing a Bed, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Stickybun is no longer baby she wants power, Vaginal Sex, We've got open and honest communication, fear of intimacy, losing virginity, meeting parents, ocxcanon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:28:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 104,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23124760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OpalizedFossil/pseuds/OpalizedFossil
Summary: My mother says I'm too romanticShe says, "You're dancing in the movies."I almost started to believe her,Then I saw you and I knew---Lianna Everton is a trainer who comes to Galar with her champion best friend, Rosa, in search of peace of mind. Instead, she meets the Undefeatable Champion Leon, who is arguably even better.
Relationships: Aogiri | Archie/Matsubusa | Maxie, Dande | Leon/Original Character(s), Kibana | Raihan/Nezu | Piers
Comments: 34
Kudos: 103





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's 2020. Cringe culture is dead, so here's a shameless OC x canon fic because I'm terribly, horribly thirsty for Champion Leon. Let me live, you cowards. (Also, go easy on me, I haven't written in a solid eight months due to chronic illness, depression, and stress. This is my way of rewarding myself for surviving it all.)

The party is precisely the type of uptight, stuffy champion nonsense Lianna expected. All important people in nice slacks and freshly pressed button-ups and glittering cocktail dresses that put her own much more demure attire to shame, chattering excitedly over free-flowing champagne and finger foods from the buffet, beneath the dim lights of the many sparkling chandeliers that strategically scattered the high ceiling in what she had since decided was some type of mansion. It’s a nice place and the champagne wasn’t completely terrible. She might have enjoyed it under different circumstances, but not tonight.

It was two weeks ago today that Rosa - her best friend, who she met in one of the cozy coastal towns of Alola several years ago, and the casual, friendly, down-to-earth Alolan Champion - invited her along for this ride. You need a vacation, Rosa had insisted - and, like a fool, Lianna had listened to her.

A vacation with Rosa _would_ have been fun, especially to a region as pretty and untouched as Galar - if not for the fact that this wasn’t a vacation at all, but a business venture. Something about facilitating a good relationship between Galar and Alola, something about champion meeting champion, Lianna had lost the details on the lengthy boat ride to Galar two days before. Thus far, the trip had mostly consisted of Lianna lounging lazily and channel-flipping in a bougie hotel room while Rosa went off to meet someone she called Chairman Rose. _Rose, Rosa._ Lianna was already counting on that being massively confusing. Still, there were worse things than wandering the streets and sampling the local cuisine alone while Rosa tended to her champion business - until Rosa had come in and announced earlier that afternoon that she was attending a stuffy party tonight and Lianna was going to be her plus-one. The party itself might have been fun, too, if Rosa hadn’t immediately been ushered away by some man in a beige-colored suit with too much product in his hair, leaving Lianna terribly, awkwardly alone in the corner.

Sighing, Lianna sips what’s left in her champagne glass, adjusts her glasses, and skims the room for her best friend. Rosa is nowhere to be found, probably swept away to talk business. She’s never been to Galar before and is barely even familiar with the faces of its league, except that they’re supposedly some of the strongest in the world and that their champion is rumored to be undefeated. She knows no one here but Rosa, and Rosa is M.I.A., so she resigns herself to slipping quietly back to the champagne bar to request a refill. The overly cushy bar stools look much more comfortable than huddling in the corner like a frightened wallflower, anyways.

Lianna sits down and sips fresh champagne, startling when someone sits down heavily beside her and claps her on her bare shoulder, remarking, “You miss me?”

“Rosa,” Lianna exhales in relief as she offers her friend a weak smile.

“You look about as happy to be here as I am,” Rosa chuckles, pausing to order something stronger than champagne from the bartender and check her phone, “A lil’ stuffy, isn’t it?”

“‘A little’ doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Lianna retorts, snorting through her nose, “Who was that?”

“Chairman Rose,” Rosa tells her, scrolling through Pokegram briefly before she tucks her phone back into her clutch and turns around on her bar stool to study the crowd instead, “Hey. There’s one of the gym leaders. His name’s Raihan.” She points out an obscenely, unbelievably tall man with neatly done dreadlocks. “That’s Nessa he’s taking a photo with, she’s a gym leader, too.”

“I’ve heard Galar’s gym leaders are some of the strongest in the world,” Lianna remarks, “You believe that?”

Rosa’s drink arrives. She downs a third of it at once. “Guess we’ll find out for sure when I battle them all in the exhibition matches next week.”

Lianna scoffs. “No fair. You champion types get to have all the fun.”

“You know, I’m sure plenty of them would be happy to battle you, too, Lee.”

Lianna smirks over the rim of her champagne glass, chuckling, “I don’t wanna steal your thunder.”

“Yeah, right,” Rosa retorts, sipping her own beverage, “You and who? That Goomy?”

“You should know better than to insult Stickybun,” Lianna laughs, “She’ll conquer us all someday and you know it.”

“Maybe after she finishes tracking slime all over my freshly installed carpet.”

“Hey, she apologized,” Lianna remarks, bringing her glass to her lips again as she skims the crowd spread thin over the ballroom floor, movement in her peripheral vision catching her eye. The crowd is parting to make way for someone near the entryway, presumably someone important enough to warrant the whoops and hollers that answer their appearance. Once the commotion dies down, she sees the cause of it: Mister Tall, Dark, and Handsome, who she might have been instantly attracted to if the fact that he was wearing a gaudy fur-trimmed cape and a snapback to a formal event didn’t immediately distract her. “Who’s this bloke? _What_ is he wearing?”

“Oh, that?” Rosa starts.

Lianna interrupts her, scoffing incredulously, “Is that a _cape?_ Hell, Rosa, I wish you would’ve told me beforehand, so I could’ve worn my cap in. You know I feel terribly naked without it.”

Rosa can’t help but laugh. “Yeah, but your hair looks so pretty without it! And besides, I was told it was a formal event. Guess capes count as formal in Galar.”

“Culture shock,” Lianna snorts, studying him carefully, “He’s cute, though. If you can ignore that gaudy ass cape, that is.”

“Yeah, he’s exactly your type,” Rosa chuckles, “Very _studly._ Now’s no time to be a thirsty bitch, Lee.”

Lianna glares at her, sipping champagne, when she realizes that the purple-haired man is coming directly towards them and tries to straighten her face into something that suggests they weren’t just openly mocking his questionable wardrobe choices. She tries to focus on something else instead: the sweet taste of her champagne, or the slight dusting of neatly shaped facial hair on the man’s jaw, or the fact that he’s also wearing leggings underneath what she can best describe as booty shorts. What a disaster. A handsome disaster, however, she must admit.

Rosa offers a hand at the man’s approach. “Leon.”

“Champion Rosa, I take it?” the man asks hopefully, shaking her hand, “Chairman Rose said I would find you here. Sorry I’m late. Got lost.”

“It’s fine,” Rosa replies curtly, “Nice to finally meet you.”

“Same to you,” Leon says with a polite nod, “Rose told me to come and find you for the dance.”

Rosa straightens in her seat. “The what?”

“We’re supposed to dance together tonight,” Leon replies with a confused blink, “It was in the agenda for tonight, didn’t you read it?”

“Apparently not,” Rosa remarks and Lianna watches her gaze meet hers nervously and sees the exact moment when an idea ignites behind her eyes, “Hm. Well. I won’t be participating in the dance because...I’m married.” She very much is not.

“Oh, well - ,” Leon starts, but Rosa cuts him off.

“But, it’s alright, because _Lianna_ will dance with you,” Rosa says, and then snatches Lianna’s champagne glass from her and practically shoves her in Leon’s general direction with a conniving grin, “That’ll be fine, won’t it?”

“Uh…” Leon gapes at the woman shoved practically right into his barrel chest, while Lianna steadies herself and offers Rosa a glare over her shoulder, pointedly adjusting her glasses with her middle finger, “Is that allowed?”

“Sure it is,” Rosa says, waving them off while she orders a second drink, “You two go on, have fun, don’t worry about me.”

“Sure…,” Leon reluctantly agrees, then straightens his back and offers Lianna an arm. It’s markedly polite, almost... _princely,_ in a way. Lianna feels the faintest touch of heat in her fair cheeks and tells herself it’s the alcohol.

Lianna takes his arm. “Lead the way, Prince Charming.”

Leon laughs, already leading her away from Rosa to the dance floor, which is scattered with other dancers who are treating it more like the grimy floor of a badly lit club than an elegant ballroom floor, in varying stages of drunkenness. “Lianna, was it?”

“Just Lee is fine,” she tells him, only slightly nervous when he rests his hands on her waist. He’s tall, somewhere around six feet, and has to look down to talk to her. He laughs at her response and, surprised, she quirks a brow at him and remarks, “Something funny?”

“No, it’s nothing,” Leon says, “Just...my brother calls me Lee, too.”

Lianna chuckles, too. “What are the chances, huh?”

“But, my name’s Leon,” he adds, guiding her hands to his broad shoulders before replacing his own on her hips, “But I’m guessing you already knew that.”

Her fingers inadvertently wander over the material of that stupid gaudy cape. It feels like cheap velvet, trimmed in white faux fur speckled with black, something a kingly figure would wear in an old cartoon. Underneath, his shoulders are steady and strong and tightly muscled. _Woof._ “Should I know that?”

He looks more surprised than she expects, throwing her off. “You...didn’t?”

She blinks. “Clearly.”

She sees him debate something internally for a moment, then he smiles and her heart flutters so much that she instantly forgets about it. He could light up a room with a smile like that. Whoever he was, he was clearly important, popular, and well-liked, and it wasn’t hard to see why. “Don’t worry about it,” he reassures her, swaying gently before bringing her in a slow circle, something vaguely resembling a waltz if someone only dimly knew what it was. Still, he’s sure-footed, like he’s done this many times before. Odd, she didn’t take him for a dancer when he was built like an athlete (and dressed like a Halloween costume).

“You dance well,” she tries, compelled to fill the silence, “You come here often?”

He laughs. “More often than I care to, yeah.”

Lianna almost stumbles in the chunky heels she’s wearing, but Leon steadies her with a hand on her back. She glances at him appreciatively, but tries not to hold his honey-golden gaze for too long. “Sorry. I don’t dance much.”

“I never would have known,” he offers.

“That’s sweet of you, but anyone with eyes can tell I have two left feet, pretty boy,” Lianna laughs, then studies his form a bit harder. She’s already noticed the way muscle and tendon slide smoothly underneath his darkly tanned skin, it would’ve been hard not to. But, above that, there’s athletic wear, tucked beneath that Arceus-awful cape. “Dancing’s not really my style. Not yours either, is it?” She meets his gaze now and, dammit, his eyes are so soft and pretty. Rosa’s words echo in her mind, Now’s no time to be a thirsty bitch, Lee.

Leon chuckles. “Not really, no. What gave it away?”

“The cape,” Lianna remarks, then giggles more girlishly than she cares to think about, before brushing his hands off of her waist and stepping back, “C’mon, Prince Charming, I think I know something we’ll both enjoy more than ballroom dancing.”

Leon’s expression turns cautious. No wonder why, Lianna thinks. He probably has half a dozen women come onto him in a single night, he’s gorgeous. But, that isn’t what she has in mind, rummaging in the studded black clutch that drapes across her shoulder on a dainty silver chain. From it, she takes a single Quick Ball, yellow stripes crisscrossed over bright blue. “Let’s step outside, shall we?”  
Leon’s face lights up in a way that Lianna rarely sees these days, in that bright, jubilant way that a young child’s does when they’re first starting out on their Pokemon journey and still full of hopes and dreams and aspirations to someday be champion. Once upon a time, that had been her, but not anymore. But, seeing it alive and well on someone else’s face, especially someone like Leon, sends a pang of fondness through her chest. He smiles in that brilliant, bright way of his and his honey-golden eyes practically gleam as he offers her his arm again. This time, she gladly takes it as he remarks, “Actually, I have a better idea.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't written in eight months and now I've suddenly written two chapters in the span of two days. Inconsistency much?

Wyndon is a sprawling city of straight-forward streets and neatly arranged storefronts, sidewalks scattered with street food vendors, eternally bustling and busy, crowds punctuated with the occasional free-roaming Pokemon. The city’s lights drown out the stars in the night sky above, rendering it dark and muddy and vaguely streaked with clouds of coal smoke through the oppressive darkness. Nonetheless, it’s a beautiful city, and Lianna is grateful to have been set up with Rosa in one of its finest hotels.

Leon has an employee card key to the stadium, so he can come in and practice with his Pokemon whenever he pleases. Tonight, the place is empty and quiet, their footsteps echoing hollowly in the tiled halls as he leads her through massive double-doors and into the stadium, deserted bleachers looming over the sprawling playing field on three sides. He flicks a switch by the entryway and the blindingly bright lights flicker to life overhead, Lianna squinting at him in the sudden whiteness.

“This is the biggest stadium in Galar,” Leon explains as he gestures to the empty bleachers, “It’s where the League hosts its exhibition matches between the annual gym challenge, and it’s where the champion battles the final challenger when it’s over.”

Lianna hums, impressed. There weren’t stadiums like this in Alola, and certainly not in her native region of Kanto or her father’s home of Hoenn. Alola hadn’t even _had_ an Elite Four or regional champion until fairly recently, after all. “Swanky place. And you just happen to have a key to it?”

He offers another incredibly photogenic smile, full of straight white teeth and more charisma than any one man should ever have. “The place is all ours for the night. But, we better not stay too long, someone will miss us.”

“Yeah, I did kinda ditch Rosa,” Lianna muses, frowning at herself, “That wasn’t cool of me.”

“Don’t worry,” Leon reassures her, “Chairman Rose will keep her busy. He had an entire agenda for tonight, and she was a big part of it.”

Lianna chuckles. “Champions have all the fun, huh?”

He scratches the back of his neck in search of an invisible itch, and Lianna tries hard not to focus on the way the muscles flex in his shoulder and neck when he moves. “I guess so.”

Lianna sits on an empty bleacher to unbuckle her heels, setting them aside with her clutch, which she flips open in search of the same Quick Ball from before. “Alright, Prince Charming. Let’s get on with it, before Rosa realizes I ditched her.”

Leon answers with a lopsided grin, gleaming golden eyes coming completely alive in a way Lianna hasn’t seen before - but, then again, she’s only known him for a grand total of forty-five minutes. Still, it warms her to her core and ignites a certain spark in her own steady brown gaze, seeing the way the promise of battle lights a fire in him. He must be quite the trainer, she surmises, and it isn’t hard to see why. “Let’s,” he agrees, bringing a single Pokeball out from underneath his gaudy cape and approaching the playing field.

“This’ll have to be a one-on-one battle,” Lianna says as she walks barefoot to her side of the arena, enlarging the Quick Ball in her hand, “Half of my team wasn’t allowed into Galar, so I’m afraid I’m down three Pokemon.”

Leon chuckles apologetically. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

“No need to apologize. They’re invasive species here, I get it,” she waves him off, then tosses the Quick Ball in the air once and catches it in her palm neatly, “So, one-on-one. First one to knock their opponent out wins. And, just for fun, no healing items.”

He nods. “You must like a challenge.”

“Don’t go easy on me, pretty boy,” Lianna replies with a coy smile, quirking a brow in a way that lends her an air of mischief, “Give me everything you’ve got!”

Leon laughs and replies, “With pleasure.” Then, he tosses a Pokeball into the air, igniting an impressive draconic figure in bright white light for an instant before it materializes into a Charizard. A familiar foe for Lianna, she encountered them fairly often back in Kanto, but this one doesn’t cant its head backwards and bellow with a burst of flames or flail its wings and tail at her the way many of them did. Instead, it regards her from alongside its trainer with only a steady gaze. She knows from a glance that it’s well-trained.

“A Charizard? I should have known, typical of you,” Lianna teases and casts her own Pokeball into the air, from which the sleek four-legged figure of a Manectric emerges, “Unfortunately for you, pretty boy, Galar _did_ allow my ace in.”

Her Manectric is beautifully groomed and as nimble on its feet as an embodiment of lightning can be, sparks already surging from its wiry fur in anticipation of battle as it regards the enemy trainer’s Charizard with the bare of its teeth and the slightest rumble of a snarl. Leon smiles and nods to her, commenting, “She’s a beauty.”

“Good to see you have _some_ taste, for a Charizard trainer,” she remarks with a chuckle, “Ready when you are, Prince Charming.”

Leon scoffs, but smiles through her taunt. “You’ll eat those words.”

The battlefield is an eruption of fire as Charizard swoops in for the first move, but Lianna’s Manectric is faster and answers with a cascade of lightning that rains down from above and strikes with an explosion of sparks. Thunder is answered with Fire Blast, Lianna orders Manectric to charge for its next electric attack while Charizard moves in with an Ancient Power. Leon is nimble and athletic and not dressed in a cocktail dress that squeezes his hips altogether too tightly in thin, black material, darting across his corner of the field to survey Lianna’s Manectric for openings and weaknesses. He finds one and retaliates with another Ancient Power, but a Wild Charge from Manectric hits harder than he anticipates. Lianna slides across the well-manicured astroturf on bare feet and sees how his Charizard falters briefly beneath the rain of sparks riddling its wings, and Leon knows exactly when she’s seen his weakness. For the first time in awhile, Leon is caught off-guard, but he knows better than to fumble. It isn’t the first time he’s been in a bind, but he won’t let it become his first defeat, either.

“Kaizen!” Lianna calls to her Manectric by time, pointing, “Charge, then hit it with another Thunder!”

Manectric starts to spark, then reabsorbs the shed electrons back into itself, until its wiry fur acquires a yellow glow of electricity. Leon doesn’t waste his chance, shouting with a wave of his arms, “Ancient Power! Again!”

The shower of energy imbued rocks hits its mark, answered with a pained yelp from Lianna’s Manectric that morphs into a snarl of determination. Leon can see it beginning to falter, its hindlegs trembling slightly underneath it before it surges forth with an eruption of electricity.

“Throw it off!” Leon shouts to Charizard, and the Pokemon answers with an ear-splitting roar, scattering embers, that throws Manectric’s focus off only briefly enough for Thunder to miss, lightning striking the earth a few feet away. Fortunately, the astroturf is fire-resistant, as it absolutely has to be in order to prevent burning the entire stadium to the ground in a single day.

Lianna snarls in frustration. “Don’t worry about it! Go for a Wild Charge instead!”

“Fire Blast, Charizard! Finish it!” Leon answers. His Pokemon soars overhead while Manectric is struggling to recharge itself enough for its next attack, mouth igniting with the firelight as it prepares the Fire Blast that ends the battle. The smoke clears and Lianna’s Manectric stumbles backwards, hindlimbs trembling, before it falls.

“Oh, Kaizen!” Lianna rushes to her fainted Pokemon’s aid, kneeling beside it briefly to stroke the charred fur of its throat before she returns it to its Pokeball, squeezing the Quick Ball in one hand as if to comfort the creature concealed inside. She only mourns her loss for a moment, before she lifts her gaze to watch Leon, who is excitedly praising his partner and stroking its head between its horns while Charizard purrs like a Skitty. She can’t help but smile; Leon is a great trainer, she knew it just from the way he responded to the promise of battle, and he clearly cares about his Pokemon. It’s heartwarming, in a way.

Leon returns Charizard to its Pokeball, then offers Lianna a hand and helps her to her feet, grinning cheerfully. “Great match, huh?”

Lianna straightens her cocktail dress, which has been trying to ride up in the back since she put it on a few hours prior. “It was! Haven’t had a battle like that in awhile. Shame I lost, of course, but I had fun, so I’m not worried about it.”

“Don’t feel too bad about it,” he chuckles, again scratching a nonexistent itch on the back of his neck before he adjusts his snapback, “I _am_ the undefeated champion, after all. I wouldn’t be worthy of that title if I lost to some stranger I just met, now would I?”

Lianna stares at him, blinking vacantly behind her glasses. “ _You’re_ the champion?”

“Of course,” he laughs, “You mean the cape didn’t give it away?”

“If I had known you were the champion,” Lianna laughs at herself, trotting barefoot back to the bleachers to put her heels back on, “I never would have challenged you. That must’ve been a real waste of your time, huh?”

“No,” he says, more earnestly than she expects, “It was fun. And you really had me backed into a corner. You might have won if that last Thunder had hit, you know. Jeez, wouldn’t that have been embarrassing? I can see the headlines now: undefeatable champion conquered by woman he just met at a party.”

She buckles her heels and stands, cuffing him on the arm good-naturedly. “Too bad no one would’ve been here to see it but us. Don’t worry about it, Charming, I won’t tell anyone you nearly got your ass kicked by a random trainer off the streets.”

Lianna starts for the door when she realizes that Leon isn’t following her. She pauses, glancing back at him over her bare shoulder, startled when she sees the way his honey-golden eyes are fixed on her, studying her plaintively, scrutinizing her. She feels a touch of heat in her fair cheeks and is about to ask if he was planning on coming back to her hotel room with her when he smiles in that too-sweet, too-innocent way of his.

“There’s no way you’re a random trainer off the streets,” he remarks as he follows her to the exit, “You don’t strike me as being from Alola, either. Too pale. Way, way too pale.”

She swats him, grinning playfully. “Hey! Not my fault I burn instead of tan. Nearly got sunburnt off that last Fire Blast of yours, in fact.”

“Wherever you’re from,” Leon says as he switches the stadium lights off and holds the door for her, bringing her back out into an empty lobby that’s eerily quiet in the absence of an adoring audience, “You’re a damned good trainer.”

Lianna laughs, more at herself than at him, but the comment feels much more meaningful coming from someone like Leon, who clearly knows what he’s talking about. He isn’t a random trainer off the streets, easily impressed with any semblance of skill, who has never left the town they were born in to see what it really means to _battle._ “Thanks, champ. Not half bad yourself.”

“I sure hope so!” he scoffs at her, grinning lopsidedly. This time, she holds the door for him, leaving the empty lobby behind them as they’re encased in the chilly Windon night once more, streetlights sparkling like stars overhead.

“You should be getting back, you know,” Lianna points out as she leads him back towards the party. She isn’t too familiar with the area, although she’s spent the past two days wandering around it aimlessly while Rosa is away, but the mansion is hard to miss, with its grand gated entryway and spotlights blazing on its neatly manicured lawn, cobblestone walkway weaving through rose bushes. “Someone’s missed you by now, I’m sure of it. You are champion, after all, so somebody’s gotta always be up your ass about something.”

“True,” he chuckles, then frowns when she doesn’t follow him through the open gates towards the mansion and the bustling party within, “Hey, aren’t you coming?”

Lianna shakes her head, smiling faintly. “No, thanks. I think I’ll turn in for the night, I’ve been up since six and I want to sit down before these shoes cause blisters.”

“Oh, well...I suppose I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” he replies.

She raises a brow. “Tomorrow?”

“Chairman Rose is hosting a luncheon for the league. Champion Rosa is the guest of honor, and you’re her plus one, aren’t you?”

Groaning, Lianna tips her head back at the starless sky. “Oh, jeez, how many of these things is Rosa gonna drag me to this week?”

“About a dozen, if the chairman has any say in it,” Leon laughs, “But I promise it isn’t all bad. I could introduce you to the gym leaders.”

“I’m sure Rosa has those bases covered and then some, Charming,” she replies, but can’t help but smile. Something about Leon is so painfully earnest, so honest and kind and completely and utterly well-meaning. It’s endearing, really. He’s sweet, in a way that isn’t simply surface-level. “But, hey, thanks for the battle. Guess I’ll see you tomorrow and then some. Nice meeting you, Leon.”

“You, too,” he agrees, and there’s that photogenic smile again, threatening to make her swoon over a man that she’s just met and is definitely out of her league. Any thoughts she had entertained about him earlier wither and die in the back of her mind now; he’s the champion, no doubt the most coveted man in the entire region. “See you tomorrow. Be careful on your way back to the hotel.”

“Don’t you worry about me, pretty boy,” Lianna laughs as she walks away, glancing back at him over her shoulder with a smile, “I can handle myself.”

Lianna pauses a few steps away to watch Leon vanish back into the mansion, rifling through her clutch for her phone to text Rosa and let her know that she’ll see her back at their hotel room. _Challenge the champion_ certainly hadn’t been on her agenda for the night, but it had been fun - much more fun than some stuffy affair in a stranger’s mansion with a crowd of people she didn’t know, she muses as she stops by the Pokemon Center to have her Manectric’s wounds tended to before she returns to the hotel room, showers, and falls into bed to sleep the unsteady, anxious sleep of someone who has too much to hide.


	3. Chapter 3

Lianna awakens when Rosa enters the room and slams the door behind her, dropping her clutch on the hotel floor before she staggers in tiredly. Grumbling, Lianna sits upright and switches the lamp on her nightstand on, squinting at her friend through the sudden darkness. Beside her, the alarm clock reads _1:38AM._

“Lee?” Rosa prompts, squinting back at her.

“Who the hell else would it be?” Lianna remarks as she reaches for her glasses blearily, blinking a restless sleep from her eyes.

Rosa laughs, flinging her heels off her ankles and stripping out of her cocktail dress to flop down on the edge of her own bed in her bra and underwear. “Sorry, just didn’t think I would find you here tonight, after you _slipped away_ with Leon at the party!”

Heat rises in Lianna’s pale cheeks, scoffing preposterously. “Rosa!”

“What? You were _so_ into him, and then you two disappeared for like an hour before I finally saw him again! And you were nowhere to be found, so I assumed he left you to sleep it off at his place. Was the dick any good?”

Lianna splutters, face as red as a Cheri berry, _“Rosa!”_

Rosa is laughing too hard to respond for a moment, holding her stomach as she lays flat on her back in bed, finally getting her bearings enough to ask, “So, if you weren’t fucking, what _were_ you two doing?”

“Sorry to disappoint you, babe, but we only got to first base: Pokemon battling,” Lianna retorts, arms crossed over her pajama-clad chest as the heat in her cheeks finally starts to die down.

“Did you deadass challenge the regional champion to a Pokemon battle on a whim? C’mon, Lee, you should’ve known you were gonna get your ass kicked.” Rosa sits up, reaching for her unpacked duffel bag at the end of the bed and beginning to dig for her own pajamas.

“I didn’t know he was the champion,” Lianna remarks, “I don’t know who I thought he was. I knew he was someone important, since he was at the party, but I didn’t think he was the _champion_. Anyways, he won.”

“Of course he did,” Rosa chuckles as she shimmies into cotton shorts patterned with cartoony images of Stufful and Lovedisc, “Leon isn’t just the regional champion of Galar, Lee. He’s the reigning _world_ champion. He’s even beaten _Lance_.”

Lianna’s eyes widen behind her glasses. Leon hadn’t mentioned _that_. “Then...he must be a pretty modest guy.”

“Or just a _pretty_ guy, yeah?” Rosa teases. Lianna tosses a pillow at her and she laughs. “C’mon, Lee, you were practically drooling. Didn’t realize you were so into guys with bad fashion sense.”

Groaning, Lianna flops back down on her bed and remarks, “Will you let it go, Rosa? I gawk at guys and gals all the time, why’s this one suddenly noteworthy?”

“Uh, maybe because he’s the _reigning world champion_ and your dumbass somehow didn’t even know and tried to challenge him?” Rosa laughs, then throws Lianna’s pillow back at her, “Go back to sleep, you thot. We’ve got a luncheon with the gym leaders tomorrow afternoon, but I have _another_ meeting with the chairman first, so I’ll have to meet you there, okay? I’ll text you the address in the morning.”

“Leon mentioned it,” Lianna remarks as she removes her glasses and plops down on the pillow, squeezing it close to her chest, “He said he’d introduce me to the gym leaders. I told him you probably had that much covered.”

“Yeah, but wouldn’t it be more fun if _Leon_ introduced you to them?”

Lianna scowls at the blur that is now Rosa, squinting hard without her glasses. “Go to sleep, bitch. Or else.”

Rosa removes her earrings and dumps them on the nightstand. “Or else what?”

“Or else I’ll put Stickybun on your face again,” Lianna mutters, already closing her eyes.

“Oh no, not the Goomy!” Rosa laughs, flicking the lamp off and peeling back the neatly made covers of her own bed, finally settling in just as the alarm clock’s red numbers flicker to _2:00AM_ between them, “G’night, Lee.”

“Night,” Lianna replies softly.

“Love you.”

“Love you too, bitch.”

* * *

Lianna wakes to the blare of Rosa’s alarm, but quickly drifts back off, until she’s only vaguely aware of her better half rummaging through her unpacked bag for a change of clothing and stumbling half-asleep into the shower. She stirs yet again when Rosa closes the door behind her on her way out, managing a few more minutes of semi-conscious snoozing before the sunlight filtering in through the blinds to her right finally forces her awake.

She rolls over in bed and looks at the alarm clock: _8:45AM._ Too early after the late night she had. She briefly entertains the thought of going back to sleep, before her Rotom phone pings on the nightstand and she remembers the luncheon she’s supposed to meet Rosa at around noon. Groaning, she rolls over, curses the ceiling, and heaves herself out of bed to shower and get herself into some semblance of acceptable. What was the dress code for this damned thing? Formal? Business casual?

Lianna remembers that Leon had attended a full-fledged formal party the night before in athletic wear and a costume cape, and she had seen at least one other person in attendance in gym shorts and a hoodie, and decides that _casual_ is perfectly appropriate in this region no matter the occasion, tousling her wet hair off with a towel before stepping into a pair of shorts, a white cami, and a pair of stockings that sit right above her knees with Skitty-ear shapes. She tugs her favorite flannel on over her ensemble and checks the clock. Still a few hours before she needs to leave, and she’s alone in an empty hotel room with her thoughts.

That won’t do, she decides as she reaches for her clutch from last night, just barely big enough to hold her three remaining Pokeballs after her other three Pokemon had been forbidden to cross into Galar. They’re back home in Alola with her fathers, safe and sound, but no doubt irritated with her for leaving them behind on her next adventure, even if said adventure was only supposed to last two to three weeks. All that remains of her well-balanced team now is her Manectric, her Vaporeon, and Stickybun - who she promptly frees from her Pokeball, the white aura immediately morphing into the shape of an adorable little slimeball of a Goomy.

Lounging on the edge of the bed, Lianna holds a hand down for Stickybun to nuzzle into with a coo of her species’ name, smiling faintly. “G’morning, Sticky. You sleep well?” Stickybun coos at her a few times and she chuckles. “Yeah, me neither. Sleeping in a strange bed is weird, even if it’s the cushiest bed in all of Galar. Look at this place, would ya? So posh.”

Lianna is scratching Stickybun around the base of her antennae, the way she likes, when her phone pings and reminds her to check the address that Rosa sent her. It isn’t far from the hotel, in the same mansion that the party had been held in the previous night. She briefly wonders if she’s undressed, decides she doesn’t care, and sits up on the bed, reaching down to pull her Goomy up into her lap. Stickybun is an acquired taste: she’s a fleshy sort of slimy, simultaneously cold and wet around her edges but soft and warm at her core. But, they’ve been together for years now and the sliminess settling against Lianna’s thighs far from bothers her as she reaches for the remote and starts to channel surf.

“Watcha wanna watch, Sticky?” she asks. Sticky coos. “That home renovation show again? Jeez, Sticky, what are you, a soccer mom?”

Nonetheless, Lianna finds the channel Stickybun likes and holds her in her lap while she watches it, stroking gently along her slimy skin and holding her close. Stickybun makes a few sounds of displeasure and Lianna nods nonchalantly. “I agree, beige walls are boring. What color would you have picked?” Sticky coos. “You’re right. Purple would be much better.”

The home renovation show drawls on for another episode before Lianna decides a walk would do them well. She’ll take the long way back to the mansion; she remembers where it was from the night before and Wyndon is fairly easy to navigate despite its size and general busyness. “You ready to go, Sticky?” she asks and the Goomy responds with an affirmative sound. Lianna turns the TV off, stuffs her other Pokeballs into her satchel, and tosses it onto her shoulder before putting her snapback on backwards, picking Stickybun up, and heading out.

Outside, the weather is chilly and Lianna briefly considers that maybe she should have worn pants and a sweater instead of shorts, a cami, and a flannel with no jacket. There wasn’t much snow where she lived, so it seldom occurred to her to plan ahead when it came to the weather. She shrugs it off, hugs Stickybun closer, and carries on. Wyndon is less busy in the mornings, she’s found, the streets only thinly scattered with tourists and trainers. A Sneasel is fishing through a nearby trashcan for scraps. Lianna’s breath turns to clouds of mist in front of her and she shivers, hurrying along despite the peaceful scene. So much for taking the long way around.

“You wanna go back in your Pokeball?” Lianna offers when she hears Stickybun grumble, but the Goomy shakes herself in protest, chirruping when a murder of little black bird Pokemon flutters overhead, “You see those, Sticky? Those are called Rookidee. Apparently, they’re only found here in Galar. What do you think? Should we find ourselves some new team members while we’re here? Or maybe catch something for Daddy?”

Stickybun chirps. Lianna nods. “Both. Both is good,” she says, then rounds a corner and finds herself face-to-face with no one other than Champion Leon - still dressed in that same athletic wear and stupid cape from the previous night.

He doesn’t seem to notice her at first, those honey-golden eyes flitting from one side of the street to the other at the intersection. Then, Stickybun alerts him to their presence with an exclamation of, “Goom, Goom!”

Leon glances in their direction, face lighting up with another of his brilliant smiles. Lianna’s chest aches, is he trying to kill her? “Lianna! Good morning, fancy seeing you here, mate!”

“Leon,” she replies, returning the smile, “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be on your way to the luncheon? It starts in like...twenty minutes.”

“Oh, that,” he chuckles nervously, scratching the back of his neck, “About that. I’m, uh...I’m lost.”

Lianna looks at him. “Lost? Don’t you like... _live here_?”

“No, I live in Postwick. I’m only staying here temporarily for the events this week, and I stay here during the summer while the Gym Challenge is running every year,” he tells her, “I’m, uh, not very good with directions.”

“So I’ve gathered,” Lianna remarks, before Sticky interrupts with a sharp sound. She laughs, holding her up for Leon to see. “Leon, this is Stickybun. Sticky, this is Leon.”

To her surprise, Leon reaches out and pets Stickybun with his gloved hand without hesitation, coming away with a palmful of Goomy slime and a delighted laugh. “Ha, hey there, mate. Nice to meet you.”

Stickybun coos in delight and Lianna smiles. “She says it’s nice to meet you, too. Also, she likes your cape.”

“She has good taste,” Leon surmises.

“She has no taste, but whatever helps you sleep at night, champ,” she laughs, sitting Stickybun on her shoulder, “C’mon. I’m on my way to the luncheon, too. We can go together.”

He exhales in relief. “Oh, thank you.”  
“No prob, Bob.”

“Say, Goomy’s pretty uncommon in Alola, isn’t it? So, are you maybe originally from Kalos?” Leon asks out of the blue.

Lianna laughs. “Do I look Kalosian to you, pretty boy? But, you’re not completely wrong. Sticky _is_ from Kalos, we met back when I was going through their Pokemon League awhile ago.”

“Oh, so you’ve participated in Pokemon Leagues before? Y’know, our Gym Challenge is coming up next month and -”

“Nice try, champ, but I don’t think I’ll be hanging around to beat up your region’s finest twelve-year-olds,” Lianna laughs, rounding the corner at the next intersection, “I’m a little old to be participating in Leagues now. I just train on my own when the mood strikes me, and I’m only here because Rosa’s my best friend and she asked me to come. And besides…” She gives him a playful shove on his shoulder, catching him off-guard. “If I made it to the top, I know I’d never beat you, champ. We proved that much last night.”

Leon almost stumbles, catches himself, and grins good-naturedly. “Hey!”

She looks at him, giggling girlishly. “Hey yourself. Now, pick up your feet, champ, or we’re gonna be - oh my gosh, what is _that_?”

Lianna halts in her tracks and frankly gapes at an unimaginably small creature slowly, slowly making its way across the street. It’s about the size of a Caterpie and solid white, with translucent icy spines forming something like a shell over its back. She kneels to take a better look at it and Sticky coos in excitement, catching the Pokemon’s attention. It looks at them, regarding them with gentle black eyes. It’s criminally cute.

“Oh, it’s a Snom!” Leon tells her as he kneels beside her and holds out a gloved hand. The little Pokemon looks at him, then slowly starts to crawl towards his outstretched palm, eventually edging its way into his hold. “They’re pretty common in the wild on the route just outside Wyndon, and they like to come into the city to look for food. A lot of folks feed them, so even though they’re wild, they’re pretty friendly.”

He offers the Snom in his hands to Lianna, who gently takes it in cupped palms and coos in delight as she brings it closer to her face, smiling broadly as she takes it in. “You are the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Sticky protests, “Goom!”

“Besides you, Sticky. But, you’ve got serious competition. Just _look_ at this little guy!” Lianna says as the Snom cuddles into the warmth of her cheek, earning a sharp giggle from her at the sudden cold of its body pressing against her, “Oh gosh! You’re too cute!”

“Aw, it likes you!” Leon remarks, “It must want food. Don’t let its size fool you, Snom is notorious for its appetite.”

“I might have something in my bag,” Lianna says, rummaging through her satchel and finding a half-eaten chocolate bar she still had from the train ride a few days ago. It must be terribly stale by now, but the Snom doesn’t seem to mind, nibbling away at it eagerly while Lianna holds it in place, Stickybun watching on in curiosity from her shoulder. “There you go, little guy…”

Lianna is carefully stroking along the Snom’s exposed head, peering out from underneath its spiky, icy shell, when her Rotom phone pings in her pocket and she remembers that she has somewhere to be. “Oh, we better get going! We’re late!”

“Right,” Leon agrees, gently picking up the Snom - candy bar included - and moving it to the safety of the sidewalk with its treat, “See ya later, little guy!”

The Snom says its name a few times in protest as Lianna and Leon start to leave, giving them pause. Stickybun peers back at it with a concerned, “Goom, Goom?” Lianna kneels as the little slug tries its best to run after them - albeit very slowly - the chocolate bar forgotten on the sidewalk for some other stray Pokemon to discover. “Huh. Guess you want to come along, hmm?”

Lianna almost starts when she feels Leon’s hand on her shoulder. When she looks at him, he’s peering down at her with those cursedly warm, beautiful honey-golden eyes, smiling in that champion way of his, telling her, “You should catch it. You have some empty space on your team, right?”

She nods. “Right. He’s too cute to leave here, hmm?” she remarks, rummaging in her bag for an empty Pokeball. All she has is a Premier Ball that a Pokemart clerk had given her as part of a promotion while she was buying healing products two days prior. She sits it on the ground in front of the Snom. “Do you want to go with me, bud? It’s your decision.”

The Snom seems to understand, blinking imploringly up at Lianna. She smiles and, with a happy chirrup, it scrunches forward on the concrete to touch the Pokeball with its nose, letting itself be beamed inside. The ball shakes once, twice, three times, then clicks closed. Grinning, Lianna picks it up and holds it to her lips, kissing it gently. “Welcome aboard, little guy. I’m gonna call you Popsicle.”

Leon quirks a brow, grinning. “Popsicle?”

She pushes him as she gets to her feet, giggling. “C’mon, it’s cute! Don’t you nickname your Pokemon? What kind of monster are you?”

“The normal kind, apparently,” Leon laughs, giving her a gentle push back this time, “Stickybun? Popsicle? Do you name all your Pokemon after food?”

Lianna scoffs at his gentle shove. “No! My Manectric’s name is Kaizen, remember?” Her phone trills in her pocket and she groans. “Aw, jeez, we’re definitely late! C’mon, champ!”

“Coming!” Leon shouts after her as she takes off at a jog, that ridiculous cape streaming behind him like a magic carpet when he runs.

But, Lianna’s run is short-lived as she’s scarcely reached the next intersection before she’s out of breath, Sticky cooing sympathetically from her shoulder. “Oof, I’m out of shape. Guess we’re already late, might as well own it. I can hear Rosa now!”

Leon slows to let her catch her breath. He’s not a bit out of shape, all lithe, toned muscle beneath smooth tanned skin, shaped from years of darting around the battlefield to scout for weaknesses his Pokemon could then exploit to lead them to victory. He was champion for a reason, after all. “To be fair, I’m usually late, so it shouldn’t be a terribly big issue,” he reassures her as they continue, taking a right at the intersection, at a much more reasonable pace. Stickybun coos and he smiles. “Say, how long have you had her for?”

“Who? Rosa?” Lianna scoffs, then realizes that his honey-golden gaze is focused on her Pokemon, laughing nervously, “Oh, haha! You mean Sticky! It’s been about six years now, I think. Isn’t that right, Sticky?”

The Goomy croons an affirmative while Leon studies her, prompting, “Don’t you train her?”

She looks at him warily. “Of course I do. Why?”

“Because it’s been six years and she’s still a Goomy,” he says, raising his hands defensively, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound rude or anything. Just curious, why hasn’t she evolved?”  
Lianna grins cheekily. “Oh, that? It’s because she swallowed an Everstone when she was younger, now she can’t evolve.”

The champion eyes her incredulously, before she laughs and waves him off, adding, “I’m just joshin’ you. It’s because she doesn’t want to, and I’m not going to force her. And trust me, champ, she’s plenty strong without evolving.” The purple slimeball on her shoulder puffs up with pride, nodding agreeably. “Keep bumping into me this much, and maybe I’ll have the chance to show you someday.” She winks and then can’t believe herself for doing it, but Leon doesn’t seem to mind, grinning as he follows after her.

“It’s good that you respect your Pokemon’s wishes. Means you’re a good trainer,” he tells her, then elbows her in the side lightly, not nearly hard enough to hurt, “But we already knew that after you almost kicked my ass last night, didn’t we?”

She laughs. “You don’t have to worry about my feelings, champ. You handed my ass to me and we both know it. But still, it was a great battle. Winning doesn’t matter if you had fun and all that. I can appreciate the challenge.”

“Then, we’ll battle again someday,” Leon decides.

Lianna gawks at him. “What? You enjoy picking on nerds you meet at parties or something, champ? I’ll just lose again.”

“Not if you train harder,” Leon protests, waggling a finger at her with a smile as he walks backwards a few steps, “and I strive to make everyone in Galar among the strongest trainers in the world. That includes you, even if you’re only here temporarily.”

Smiling, Lianna shakes her head. “You are too much. Isn’t he, Sticky?”

“Goom, Goom!”

“See? Sticky says she thinks you should try again!” Leon says, before he nearly trips over his cape tail and Lianna barely catches him by his shirt collar, letting go as soon as she’s righted him, “Tell her, Sticky!”

“Goom, Goom, Goom!”

“Whaaaatttt? You’re gonna side with this guy over me, Sticky? Your own trainer? I raised you, kid! You’ve known this guy for twenty minutes!”  
“Goom!”

“Fine, fine,” Lianna surrenders, prying Sticky off of her shoulder and holding her out at arms’ length before bringing her in to nuzzle her face right up against the Goomy’s much slimier one, “We’ll have a rematch someday, and maybe you can kick his ass for us, Sticky! Isn’t that right? You wanna kick his ass? You do, don’tcha?”

Leon is smiling softly at the Pokemon-trainer pair when he stops, abruptly finding himself in front of Chairman Rose’s mansion. “Oh, we’re here already. You must be pretty good with directions.”

Replacing Sticky on her shoulder, Lianna gives him a playful punch on the arm as she walks through the open gate, the yard appearing starkly different in the daylight than she remembered it last night, all colorful, courtly rose bushes and neatly trimmed hedges dripping afternoon sunlight. She might have found the place actually welcoming, if not for the uptight luncheon she so dreaded waiting inside. “No offense, champ, but I think your sense of direction’s just shit.”

He laughs, following her inside. “You couldn’t be more right about that, mate.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case anyone's wondering, [here's an image of what Lianna looks like](https://f2.toyhou.se/file/f2-toyhou-se/images/19050555_NYkFVMbQ9AvbYsU.png)!


	4. Chapter 4

Lianna might have tried to slip into the luncheon quietly and discreetly, given that she’s nearly half an hour late, but Leon throws the double doors open and storms into the room in front of her, with an obnoxious exclamation of, “Sorry I’m late!”

There’s a seat reserved for him across from Rosa, but the other gym leaders and guests have already claimed the other chairs around her, so Lianna settles for meekly slipping into an empty seat at the opposite end of the massive table - which looks to be solid mahogany, embellished with intricately carved patterns around its outer edge, dressed in a lacey table runner beneath a shimmering crystal chandelier. A ridiculously swanky place. Stickybun coos in her arms as if impressed and she shushes her softly, bringing a finger to the Goomy’s lips as the well-dressed man at the head of the table rises to address them, “Leon, thank you for finally joining us. Got lost again, I take it?”

Leon answers with a cheeky grin, a scratch of his neck, and a slight tinge of color to his cheeks, “You know me so well.”

Lianna doesn’t listen to their conversation too intently, fingers gently scratching around the bases of Stickybun’s antennae while she studies the room around them. High ceilings, crystal chandeliers, designer decorations, the safely beige-colored walls of someone worried about real estate resale values. Somebody certainly has money. She’s felt a few stares on her since she entered the room with Leon, but chooses to act blissfully aloof, unaware that she’s still being intently watched until she moves her hand to pat Sticky between the feelers and her hand promptly meets another.

She almost starts, heart jumping in her chest, but manages not to gasp when she realizes it’s just the man seated beside her, patting Sticky on the head. And stars, what a man he is: even seated, Lianna can tell that he would tower over her, and even over a tall man like Leon, like a skyscraper, neatly twisted dreadlocks done up in a short ponytail that protrudes out the back of his...headband? Hat? Lianna can’t tell. But, he’s grinning an alarmingly sharp-toothed grin, aquamarine eyes lighting up at the sight of the little Pokemon in her lap. The chairman is still blabbering on about something, but Lianna isn’t listening, as the giant of a man whispers to her, “She’s a beauty, mate. What’s her name?”

“Stickybun,” Lianna whispers back.

“It suits her,” the man says with an agreeable snaggle-toothed grin, leaving Lianna to briefly wonder why on earth his canine teeth are so sharp, before he adds, “I’m Raihan. Never seen ya around before. Ya know Lee?”

“Not well, just happened to find him lost on the way here and figured I’d bring him along,” she replies, with a good-natured grin, “I’m Lianna. I’m here with Rosa.” She nods in the young woman’s direction, where she’s discussing something with Leon and the chairman while the rest of the table descends into idle chatter.

“Her plus-one, then,” Raihan says with a grin and Lianna wonders if he ever stops smiling, “Hey, did I see ya at the party last night, mate? Dancin’ with Leon, if I ain’t mistaken.”

Lianna only nods meekly, graciously spared when the double doors on either end of the room open in unison and a train of waiters arrives with their meals, aesthetically pleasing medleys plated on nice china, served with glasses of champagne. She realizes too late that she’s the only one in the room with a Pokemon outside of its ball and briefly thinks she should return Stickybun to her Pokeball, before Raihan stops her with a wave of one massive hand. “Leave her out, she’s bein’ so good. Never saw a dragon so polite in all my life. Must be real well-trained, mate.”

“Thanks,” Lianna replies, offering Stickybun a piece of grilled asparagus from her plate. Sticky stares at it, then sticks her little pink tongue out, provoking a laugh from Raihan. “C’mon, Sticky, eat your vegetables. Naughty girl.”

“Dragons don’t care much for vegetables, y’know. But, in my experiences, Goomies always did like mushrooms,” Raihan offers, plucking one off of his plate and offering it to Sticky between two fingers. This, Sticky happily accepts, purring contently as she chews it with her toothless mouth. “Ha, cute lil’ thing. I remember when Goodra was that size. Good times.”

And then, he’s rummaging through his pocket for his Rotom phone and it’s buzzing to life and levitating over his plate and applying all the necessary, perfecting filters to take a photo of his perfectly prepared plate of food, followed by a few selfies of him with his tongue hanging out from in-between those sharp canine teeth of his. It’s a goofy face, Lianna thinks as she cuts into her steak. It’s too well-done and criminally tough, she quickly discovers, and even Sticky makes a face at most of what she tries to feed her, but she forces her way through most of it to be polite. Overall, the luncheon is better than expected, the food might be vaguely terrible, but Raihan isn’t terrible company, pointing out the other gym leaders to her while she tries to catch Rosa’s eye across the table and occasionally complimenting Sticky, who at some point winds up in his lap instead of hers, crooning like a kitten while he strokes her feelers just so.

“Are there only seven of you?” Lianna asks when Raihan finishes pointing out the other gym leaders, explaining their specialties and whether or not they’re fairly friendly, “You only pointed out seven. The other regions have eight.”

Raihan laughs. “No, there are eight of us, one of ‘em just doesn’t care for parties. That’d be Piers. He’s the Spikemuth gym leader and specializes in Dark types. He’s a nice enough guy, seems a bit apathetic at first, but he’s got a good heart.”

Lianna hums, focusing idly on Leon and Rosa at the other end of the table. Things seem to be wrapping up and, while she doesn’t mind Raihan’s chattiness at all, she’s just about expended her social energy for the day and is ready to get back to the hotel room for a little while. 

“So, Lianna, how did ya meet Rosa? She’s your best mate, yeah?” Raihan asks, with Stickybun now soundly sleeping in its lap.

“Yeah,” she tells him, “We met when I moved to Alola. We’ve been best buds ever since, I guess. And she dragged me along on this rendezvou as her plus-one because her boyfriend didn’t wanna come.”

“Aww, c’mon, mate, it’s not all bad, is it?” Raihan chuckles and there’s that trademark snaggle-toothed grin of his again, “Ya got to meet me, didn’t ya?”

Lianna laughs. “I suppose so.”

Just when the conversation starts to die down, the chairman calls the luncheon to a close and tells them to leave their empty glasses and plates and dirty silverware for housekeeping, then wishes them well and dismisses them. Lianna tells Raihan goodbye as he returns Sticky to her, then ventures through the retreating gym leaders to meet Rosa at the head of the table, exhaling heavily when her friend still seems happy to see her.

“Hey, Rosa, I’m sorry I was late,” she tells her, with Sticky now crankily seeping down her shoulder after her nap was unexpectedly interrupted, looking every bit like she’s melting, “Got sidetracked on the way over.”

“Yeah, I’ll say you did,” Leon laughs from the other side of the table, where he’s still seated, getting his dirty dishes together in one neat pile for the housekeeper, “Thanks again for walking with me, I’m sure I would’ve missed lunch altogether if you hadn’t shown up, mate.”

“No problem,” Lianna says, and she can already feel the mischievous taunt in Rosa’s gaze as she watches their exchange in smug silence, “You ready to head back to the hotel, Rosa?”

“Actually, I think I’m gonna head to the stadium and get some training in for the exhibition matches on Saturday,” Rosa replies, grinning like a Meowth, “But I’m sure Leon would be more than happy to accompany you back to the hotel. Make sure you’re safe.”

“I’m sure Lianna can handle herself,” Leon chuckles, “Besides, she has Sticky with her!”

“Yeah, Rosa, prettyyyyy sure I can handle myself,” Lianna agrees, when a shadow abruptly falls over her from behind. She glances over her shoulder and finds herself face-to-face with no one other than Chairman Rose, an uptight-looking man she’s seen twice now in that same beige suit with pressed slacks and no tie and too much product in his hair, which has an interesting swoop across his forehead. She’s sure he’s here to speak to either Leon or Rosa, so she steps aside, a bit surprised when he offers his hand to _her_ instead.

“You must be Lianna,” the chairman says, smiling in a tight-lipped, uptight sort of way. He seems friendly, soft-spoken, but there’s a certain cunning to his eyes that Lianna instantly doesn’t like. He makes her feel suspicious. “Rosa speaks very highly of you. I’m Chairman Rose, the organizer of this event. And it would seem that you’ve already met Leon.”

“Nice to meet you,” Lianna replies cordially, shaking his hand as quickly as she can. Goomy squishes down into her shoulder, also firmly distrustful of the man and privately wishing that she had the furnace that was Raihan’s lap back to doze in. “I’ve met Leon, yes.”

“Nice to meet you, too. Please, enjoy your stay here in Galar. Leon, why don’t you give Rosa and her friend a tour of Wyndon? We have some downtime before the evening meeting.”

“Actually, sir, I was about to head to the stadium to train. I’ll have to pass, I’m afraid,” Rosa interjects. Lianna knows that she’s probably actually just tired of the publicity and the uptight agenda of events and wants some time to herself, which she can more than respect.

“Ah, very well,” the chairman says, with a dismissive wave, “Just Lianna, then. Have fun, you two. I’ll see you tonight, Leon.”

“Yes, sir,” Leon agrees, watching as the chairman leaves them before his honey-golden gaze drifts back to Lianna, “You don’t have to come if you don’t have to. But...Wyndon is a beautiful place, with a lot to offer, if you’re interested.”

Lianna smiles. “Of course, not like I have anything better to do. Rosa, I’ll meet you back at the hotel tonight, yeah? Text me if you need me.”

“Works for me,” Rosa agrees with a nod, rummaging through her bag for a plastic water bottle that she promptly tosses at Lianna, who fumbles it clumsily for a hot second before managing to catch it before it hits the floor, “Here, you’ll need this.”

“What for?” Lianna grumbles, unscrewing the cap to take a quick swig, thirsty after their stale meal with only champagne to drink. Leon, meanwhile, has already retreated to the door.

Rosa grins. “Oh, y’know, for your thirst.”

Lianna snorts through a mouthful of water, almost chokes, and says goodbye to Rosa with a playful punch to her arm before following Leon out. Outside, the midday warmth has only dwindled further, their breath forming chilly clouds before them and the sun concealed behind an overcast curtain of greyish clouds. Lianna shivers and regrets her decision to dress lightly, thinking fondly of the constant warmth and sunny skies of Alola.

“You’ve already seen the stadium,” Leon tells her, gesturing to the massive dome that looms over even the city’s tallest buildings in the distance, “That’s Wyndon’s biggest attraction by far, but it’s quiet this time of year, until the gym challenge starts next month.”

“Where’s the exhibition match between you and Rosa going to be?” Lianna asks, rubbing her hands together for warmth while Sticky shivers on her shoulder.

“Here in Wyndon,” Leon replies, “but it’s the only event planned for now. Raihan might wanna battle her, too, he’s already rarin’ for a good fight.”

“I met him today,” she says casually, “Seems like a nice guy.”

“He’s an obnoxious bastard,” he laughs, grinning broadly, “Loves his selfies. Can’t live without his phone. But he’s a good mate.”

Lianna realizes that the sidewalks and streetlights of Wyndon are giving way to a hard-packed snowy path scattered with gravel and trimmed with sparse black trees without leaves. Patches of ice-encrusted, dried brown grass drift in the cold breeze just beyond them. “Where are we going?”

“It’s considered rude to take flight from the street,” Leon replies with a cheeky grin, already freeing his remarkably well-behaved Charizard from its Pokeball. The winged creature comes alive with only a rumbling growl of greeting. “And we’re going to the wild area. It’s the best sightseeing in all of Galar. C’mere.”

She steps forward warily and Leon’s hands are on her waist in a flash, hoisting her up onto Charizard’s back with practiced ease. Sticky slithers down her shoulder to alight on the fire dragon’s shoulders, cooing curiously. The Charizard answers with a throaty growl, but seems friendly enough. “Thanks, Lee,” she says, then rummages through her satchel for Sticky’s Pokeball to return her, the Goomy squeaking at her in protest, “I know, I know, I’m sorry. I’ll let you back out when we get there.”

Charizard spreads its wings as Leon mounts it with ease, straddling its broad back. Lianna almost winces when she feels his hands on her waist, holding her steady as he whistles to Charizard, the dragon’s great wings beginning to flap as it surges forward a few steps, getting the lift it needs to take flight. _You’re here. You’re safe. It’s just Leon,_ she reminds herself silently, eventually relaxing as Charizard takes them high above the barren treetops and snowy landscape below. It’s even colder up here, but Leon’s hands are gentle and warm. She can feel the warmth of his barrel chest pressed flush against her back and the tickle of the faux fur that lines his gaudy cape on the back of her head. It’s...nice, she decides after a few moments, lifting a hand to adjust her glasses as she watches the world beneath them grow faraway and small, silhouettes reduced to Durants on the streets and routes below as they fly by. The air slowly starts to warm the farther they fly from Wyndon, the snowy passes gradually turning to sprawling green fields scattered with berry trees, reminding her of home. She notices from their dragon’s eye view that the routes in Galar are very strictly linear, mostly straight with clearly marked intersections. Most of the towns beneath them are small, until the soft sandy pathways and open plains transitioned into stark stone streets and tall walls like those of a fairytale castle.

Leon has to shout to be heard over the roar of the wind, “That’s Hammerlocke! Raihan’s gym is down there!”

“Looks like a castle to me!” Lianna shouts back, “Pretty place!”

“It’s a historical landmark from the olden days! Hammerlocke is a rich cultural and historical site for Galar,” he tells her, “Lovely place, if you ever want a tour.”

“So, champ, when you’re not battling, you’re giving private tours? And how often do you get them lost, huh?” 

“Nah, I’m usually busy with Chairman Rose,” Leon remarks, grinning cheerily as he rests his chin on her shoulder. Her cheeks burn. “But, Rosa’s keeping him busy right now, so I finally have some free time!”

Her voice comes out meeker than she means it to, “Must be tough, being champion.”  
“It has its moments,” he agrees, “but I wouldn’t trade it for the world!”

Lianna smiles weakly, patting him on the cheek a few times, his facial hair scratching at her palm, and pretending she isn’t as pink-cheeked as a flirtatious high schooler. “It suits you.”

“Thanks,” he chirps, steadying Lianna’s waist as Charizard starts to bring them down in slow deliberate circles, a gentle descent. Beneath them, Lianna sees no trails or pathways, only sprawling grasslands dappled with patches of desert, scattered with trees and underbrush and crumbling stone towers. The snake-like form of a Gyrados swims like a torrent through one of the lakes below, before disappearing beneath the murky surface as Charizard lights in the grass nearby.

Leon helps Lianna down from its back with an announcement of, “We’re here!”

“It...looks like a wildlife reserve,” she comments as she removes her snapback to tidy her hair, then replace it on her head, backwards, “There are places like this back home, but trainers aren’t allowed there. They’re strict no-catch, no-battle zones.”

“Not here,” Leon reassures her with a clap on her shoulder, “The wild area is full of Pokemon, and you’re free to battle or catch whatever you want here. Different migratory species come here depending on the time of year, so there’s always something new to see. It’s great for training, or just taking a walk with your partners.”

Lianna glances up as a flock of Corvisquire take flight from a nearby tree, squawking as they fly away, smiling faintly. It’s much warmer here than it was in Wyndon, the breeze smelling pleasantly of wildflowers. “It’s beautiful,” she says, then rummages through her bag for Stickybun’s Pokeball, “I promised Sticky I would let her back out when we got here, is that okay?”

He nods. “Of course. I’m sure she would like to see it.”

Nodding, she frees the Goomy from its Pokeball, directly into her open arms. Sticky solidifies from the beam of light with a croon, smiling widely as she snuggles back into her trainer’s arms. “See? That wasn’t so bad, as it?” Lianna asks her, to which Stickybun grunts at her poutily.

“She’s awfully fond of you,” Leon comments as he scratches between Charizard’s horns, before whistling to send it off into the skies once more, “You two must be close.”

“Of course we are,” she replies, “We’ve been together a long time. Not as long as me and Kaizen, though. Oh! I’m sure she would like to see the wild area, too!” She reaches for her satchel, finding the Manectric’s Pokeball to release her. She emerges from her Pokeball with a snarl, anticipating battle, but blinks and makes a questioning sound when she finds herself on a sloping grassy hillside instead, surrounded by multicolored wildflowers. Lianna kneels, Stickybun slithering down her lap into the grass, and offers Kaizen a hand, stroking her staticy fur softly. “Hi, Kaizen. How are you feeling today? All better after that battle last night, I take it?”

Leon watches them with a soft smile, unclipping the cape from around his neck and folding it over itself neatly, to be set aside as he settles down on the grassy slope. Stickybun slithers over to him, helping herself to his lap. “You two were quite the pair last night. I would say she respects you a great deal. You were so in sync.”

“Battling is always about respect, isn’t it?” Lianna asks as she moves to sit beside him, Kaizen sniffing at an interesting clump of weeds nearby. Galar is full of new smells, no doubt. “It isn’t about power or strength or control. It’s about finding that rhythm with your partner, where you’re perfectly in sync and nothing else exists in the world but you and them. Your heart beats, their heart beats. You don’t even have to tell them what you’re thinking…”

“Because they already know what to do,” Leon finishes for her, smiling in that champion way of his. She can’t help but notice that he’s even more handsome without the cape, all broad shoulders and barrel chest with pecs bulging beneath a thin veil of athletic fabric. She tries not to stare, but Rosa hasn’t spent the better part of their years of friendship calling her a ‘thirsty bitch’ for no reason. “You’re a great trainer. I can already tell, not just from how you battled me last night, but from how you talk about your Pokemon.”

She waves him off, laughing. “I’m not so great. But...thanks. It means a lot, coming from you, champ.”

He shrugs, fingers idling massaging one of Stickybun’s antennae. “I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it.”

“You’re sweet,” Lianna remarks, then whistles for Kaizen. The Manectric bounds over to her and she gestures for her to lie down, holding Kaizen’s head in her lap as she strokes her. “So, what was it like? Battling Lance?”

His honey-golden eyes light up, watching Charizard fly in circles overhead, occasionally dipping down into a dive or swerving in a figure-eight. “It was incredible.”  
“I hear Lance is the toughest trainer you’ll ever face,” she says, then frowns, “Wouldn’t know. I never made it that far, back in Kanto. Though I suppose he’s practicing in Johto now, isn’t he? I’ve never been there.”

“Yeah, Johto, but he came here when I faced him,” he tells her, “I’ve never been to Kanto. Is it nice there?”

Lianna looks out over the wild area, bustling with more life than she’s ever seen in one place before. “It’s...simple, compared to all of this. A quiet place. You think it would be peaceful there.”

“But...it isn’t?” Leon looks at her imploringly.

She only shakes her head, going quiet for a moment before something catches her eye. There, over the crest of the neighboring hill, there’s a beam of bright red light - like that from a laser pointer - shooting skyward in a concentrated tower, surrounded by dark clouds like those that blacken the sky during a thunderstorm. She points. “What is that?”

“Oh, that,” he says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world and not something that looks extremely alarming, aesthetically, “That’s a Dynamax den.”

“Oh, right,” Lianna replies, “Rosa mentioned that whole Dynamax thing on our way over. It’s...strange, speaking as someone who’s never seen it before. What causes it? How can a Pokemon just... _grow_ that way?”

He shrugs. “No one truly understands it, but we have these…” He shows her the thick band on his wrist, which she assumed until now to be some sort of fancy, high-dollar wristwatch. “...that allow us to control it when we’re on a power spot, places where Dynamax energy is most concentrated. Places like Dynamax dens, or the stadiums. They’re purposefully built around naturally occurring power spots, so we can utilize Dynamaxing in battle.”

“It’s funny, isn’t it? How each region seems to have its own quirks?” Lianna chuckles, but there’s no humor in it, her fingers threading through Kaizen’s mane, “Alola has Z-moves. Kalos and Hoenn have mega evolution. But, you can’t use either of them here in Galar, and Galar is the only place where Dynamaxing is possible. It’s a lot to keep up with.”

He hums an ‘mmhm’ in response, Stickybun now snoozing soundly in his lap while he strokes her. Lianna picks a flower and artfully arranges it in Kaizen’s mane, the Manectric crooning in response. She decides to change the subject, “Your hair’s pretty. Doesn’t it get in your way while you’re battling?”

Leon laughs. “No, I’m used to it by now. Doesn’t yours?”

Lianna’s hair is shorter than Leon’s, slightly longer than shoulder-length, stick-straight, and a deep burgundy red, like her father’s. “I kept it in a bun, back when I was a more serious battler. Now, I don’t battle enough to bother.”

She’s arranging another flower in Kaizen’s mane when she feels that honey-golden gaze on her, nearly shuddering beneath the intensity of his stare. Why does he have to be so earnest? Does he even _know_ he’s a beautiful man and the effect he has on people? Finally, she glances at him over her shoulder, her voice coming out coy, “What is it?”

And then, he asks her the question she isn’t prepared to answer, “Why did you stop?”

She tries to play stupid, smiling sweetly, “S-Stop what?”

“Battling,” he says, “You’re clearly good at it. You’re clearly _passionate_ about it. I know you would be even better at it, if you kept practicing. So, why did you stop?”

“I didn’t stop _completely,_ ” she replies, and now her voice sounds more defensive than she wants it to, trying her best to soften it, “I’ll still battle. We battled last night, didn’t we?”

“But, you’ve been alluding that you used to do it _more_. You said you’ve run through a gym circuit before, and you’ve mentioned visiting at least three different regions now, so I know you must have done it regularly at some point. It was your passion, wasn’t it? So, why did you _stop?”_

Lianna can’t bite back the snap in her voice, “Why do you want to know so bad, huh? Why should I _tell_ you? You’re a stranger, and I still haven’t figured out why exactly you’re so damn interested in me.”

Leon looks at her like a kicked Growlithe. “I’m…”

“No,” Lianna sighs, immediately regretful. Damn him and his sweet, soft, beautiful eyes. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

There’s an uncomfortable silence. Lianna scolds herself for being so bitchy, fingers tightening in Kaizen’s mane, when Leon suddenly touches her shoulder. She jumps visibly and, startled, he jumps, too. But, he doesn’t pull away.

“It’s...silly,” Leon says, his voice softer than she’s heard until now, “But you’re the first person I’ve met in _years_ who didn’t know who I was right away. When you’re champion, there are so many eyes on you, so many expectations of who you should and shouldn’t be, what you’re allowed to do, what you’re allowed to say. And you’re right, it _does_ suit me, because most of the time, it’s really _me_ the audience sees. But...not all the time. It’s hard sometimes, when you can’t really and truly be yourself because you think maybe...that isn’t the you the world wants to see. It’s the you that makes them say...I liked him more when he was happy. I liked him more when he was ours.”

She’s shocked into silence at the earnesty of it for a moment, then she frowns and rests a hand on his, the one that’s currently seated on her shoulder. “Leon…I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he says with a reassuring smile, but she suddenly sees pain behind it, “I’m sorry for sticking my nose in your business. But, I...thought it was nice, meeting someone who saw me for something other than the champion. Someone who didn’t have a first impression before they even met me. And besides...you’re good company, mate.”

“I’m flattered,” Lianna says, patting him lightly on the hand and trying to pretend that she hadn’t just been fondling fingertips with a man she’s known for less than 48 hours. This isn’t the first time a stranger has poured their heart out to her, and it won’t be the last. It’s her damn face, she thinks to herself. She looks too damn soft and empathetic. But, with Leon...she finds that she doesn’t really mind. It was nice to hear a champion type like him admit that the world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows and Butterfrees. “And...I’m sorry. For snapping at you. For being a bitch.”

“You’re not,” he protests.

“Get to know me a little more,” she chuckles, “You’ll see.”

More silence, filled with the murmur of Sticky’s wet snores. Then, unexpectedly, Lianna feels her lips moving, hears herself speak, “It wasn’t what I really wanted. That’s why I stopped.”

Those honey-golden eyes are filled with confusion when he looks at her. “But...it was your passion, wasn’t it?”

She nods. “It was when I was sixteen.”  
She can tell he’s confused, his steady amber gaze imploring her to tell him more, but she doesn’t and, this time, he doesn’t ask. Instead, he prompts softly, “Then...what did you want?”

Lianna smiles. “Haven’t figured that out yet.”


	5. Chapter 5

Charizard alights on the snowy route outside Wyndon and Leon slides off its back, helping Lianna off after him. She’s instantly shivering, already missing the summery warmth of the wild area that reminded her so much of home. Even Stickybun has returned to her Pokeball in favor of its warmth over the snow-covered walk back to the hotel.

Leon returns Charizard to his Pokeball and asks, “Do you want me to walk you back?” Then, quickly, he adds, “Not that you need the help. I just thought it would be nice.”

“It would be nice,” Lianna agrees, pulling her flannel tighter around her shoulders, “but, if you don’t mind, I could use a walk to a clothing store instead. Can’t remember the last time I had to wear winter garb, but I wasn’t expecting to stay in a frozen wasteland when Rosa invited me on a  _ vacation  _ to Galar.”

Grinning, Leon nods. “There are a few around. But, are you seriously going to ask  _ me  _ for directions?”

She laughs, already leading him away, back towards the snow-capped shops and bright streetlights of Wyndon. It’s nearly nighttime now, the skies steadily darkening around them, the cold even more bitter than before. “How about I walk you home instead, champ?”

“Deal,” he agrees, then offers her an arm.

She stares at him for a moment, then accepts it, holding it gently as she walks him back into town. Even at this hour, the streets are bustling with people, carrying shopping totes and takeout boxes, the delicious smell of which reminds Lianna with a pang that she hasn’t eaten since the luncheon. She’ll have to stop for dinner before she heads back, too, but first, she has a himbo in distress in need of an escort - which the people around them have certainly noticed. “Hey, Leon?”

“Hmm?” he hums, blissfully unaware of the stares that have started to fall on them, the whispers rising on the streets.

“Maybe I shouldn’t hang off your arm like this,” she suggests, “People are staring.”

Leon looks at her. “What for?”

“Leon, it’s been two days and you’ve already been seen with me in public two or three times,” she comments, “People are going to...assume things.”

“I suppose,” he hums thoughtfully, “but, that’s one of the burdens of being champion. Let them stare. Let them talk. It won’t be the first time rumors have spread.”

Suddenly, Lianna misses the privacy of the wild area, where there hadn’t been a single other person around to stare at them or whisper about them under their breath. She tries to hurry, but Leon is in no rush, and it feels like hours before they finally arrive at the entryway to where he’s staying. To no one’s surprise, it’s the most luxurious hotel in the city, even more posh than the one that Chairman Rose had set Lianna up in with Rosa. “So, I guess this is where I leave you,” she comments in a hushed voice, stepping inside the open gateway to give them some privacy from the crowded street.

“Suppose so,” Leon chirps, with that big ol’ grin of his. She’s beginning to see it as less of an award-winning champion’s smile and more of a big goofy grin, but it’s no less charming. “Thanks for a great day, mate. It was fun.”

“It was,” Lianna agrees, “Thanks for the tour, champ. If the champion thing ever falls through for you, you have the makings of a great tour guide. Are you going to have heart-to-hearts with all of your clients?”

He chuckles, almost nervously. “Yeah, uh, sorry about that.”

“Don’t apologize,” she scolds him, “Besides...it was nice, to see you being human, to see you be real. Not Undefeated Champion Leon. Just...Leon.”

Leon smiles, those honey-golden eyes lighting up from within, richly amber. “Hey, us champions are just people, too.”

“I know,” she tells him, smiling back, “Believe me, I know.”

“So…” He clears his throat and offers her a hand. “Goodnight.”

Lianna stares at his offered hand, then tentatively reaches out and shakes it, unsure why he wanted a handshake to begin with. Maybe it was a Galarian thing? “G’night, Leon. Try not to get yourself lost between here and the door, yeah?”

He laughs. “Hey now, I’m not  _ that  _ bad with directions.” 

“Just teasing,” she says, then smiles and gives him a pat on the shoulder as she walks away, “Have a good night, Leon. See ya around.”

He nods. “Yeah. See ya around, mate.”

Fortunately, Lianna is no longer noteworthy to the general public when she isn’t with Leon. No one stops and stares at her as she leaves him at the hotel, visiting several touristy clothing shops and a gyro vendor before she returns to her hotel.

Rosa is on her almost before she’s opened the door, with an exclamation of, “Where have you been? Ooh, was it with  _ Leon?” _

“Hello to you, too,” Lianna remarks as she comes inside and drops her bags on the floor beside the door, digging her gyro out of its takeaway bag and tossing a spare one to Rosa, “And, as a matter of fact, it was.”

“Woooow, look at you,” Rosa purrs as she peels the gyro open and takes a bite, “I’ve seen you pounce on some high-maintenance men, Lee, but the  _ reigning world champion _ ? You go, girl!”

“Oh, please, nothing happened,” Lianna snorts, tearing into her own gyro hungrily, sauce dripping down the corner of her lips before she laps it away, “He showed me around. We went to the wild area for a bit. Saw some new Pokemon, it was neat.”

“C’mon, that’s it?” Rosa teases.

Lianna is halfway through her gyro. “Yeah, that’s it. C’mon, Rosa, I’m not gonna pounce the poor guy in the wild area. He has a reputation to maintain, jeez.” She swallows. “This is good. The food at that luncheon sucked.”

“You mean the luncheon you showed up to  _ half an hour late _ with Leon?”

“Oh, piss off,” Lianna retorts, polishing off her gyro before breaking into her snack stash for a bag of crisps, “We bumped into each other this morning, poor guy was lost, so I showed him the way. Oh, and guess what?”

Rosa looks at her. “What?”

Lianna fetches her satchel, rummaging through it for a Pokeball, from which she frees an unfamiliar little worm. The creature solidifies from the beam of light, then blinks up at her with gentle black eyes with a query of, “Snom, Snom?”

Gasping, Rosa kneels in front of the little creature. “Oh gosh! It’s so cute! What is it?”

“It’s called a Snom,” Lianna replies, smiling proudly as the ice worm inches towards Rosa, eyeballing what’s left of her gyro hungrily, “His name is Popsicle. Your idiot boyfriend would probably love him.”

Rosa takes another bite from her gyro, then offers the rest to Popsicle, who accepts it greedily, tiny mouth working away at it steadily. “Yeah, he totally would,” she agrees, then adds, “Congrats on your second catch in Galar.”

“Second?”

“Yeah,” Rosa snickers, “Second to Leon.”

“Rosa, really.”

“Your eyes just rolled so hard, I think you must’ve seen your last surviving brain cell back there. You mean that thing hasn’t died of dehydration yet?”

Lianna snorts with laughter, already gathering her things for the night. “Your first catch in Galar is going to be these hands if you don’t cut it out. Watch Popsicle while I shower, yeah?”

“Try not to think about Leon too hard while you’re in there. Remember, I can hear you.”

_ “Rosa,” _ Lianna says sharply, grabbing her pajamas and Sticky’s Pokeball before she ventures into the bathroom and closes the door, leaving Rosa snickering with Popsicle in her arms in the hotel room floor. This is going to be a  _ long  _ trip.

* * *

Lianna wakes with a start and sits straight up in bed, but the memories of whatever nightmare she was having a moment ago are blessedly few - although the beads of sweat on her forehead are testament to how bad it must have been. She exhales shakily and looks around. The room is semi-lit through the curtains and the bed beside hers is unmade, Rosa had mentioned the night before that she would be leaving early on champion business. Stickybun and Popsicle are asleep in a nest of sheets beside her, snoring soundly through her night terrors.

_ It’s okay. You’re here. You’re safe, _ she tells herself, then slips out of bed as quietly as she can to wash her face and change out of her pajamas - into something more suitable for Wyndon weather than shorts and a flannel this time. She tries on a few things, then settles on a lengthy sweater with plain black leggings, soft and fuzzy and lined with fleece for warmth. She’s sitting on the edge of her bed and brushing her hair when her Rotom phone starts to vibrate, flying up to face-level of its own accord.

She smiles at the familiar number and answers it, “Hey, Daddy.”

Her father’s face stares back at her from an awkward angle; he hasn’t quite figured out the facetime option yet, no matter how many times she’s showed him. His countenance is as stern as ever, a combination of stark black brows behind rectangular glasses frames and wrinkles that sit particularly heavily at the corners of his mouth. But, as soon as her face materializes on his end of the connection, he erupts into a smile. “Lianna! How are you?”

“I’m fine,” she replies politely, “What about you? Not missing me too terribly, I hope.”

“Of course we miss you. Are you enjoying your trip so far?”

“I suppose so,” she says, “Galar is something else. Nothing like Alola, that’s for sure. Where’s Archie? I want to say hello to him, too.”

“Oh, you know,” her father replies, in his matter-of-fact, polite but stern way, in stark contrast to the audible crash that sounds in the background of the call, “He’s around.”

Lianna frowns at the crash. “Is he trying to cook again?”

“Regrettably, yes,” he laments, rubbing his temples, “but, he’s trying to learn and I appreciate it, so I’m trying not to scold him.”

“He’ll get better,” Lianna reassures him, when she realizes that her voice has woken Stickybun and Popsicle, her Pokemon glaring at her unhappily from their blanket nest, and erupts into a grin, “Hey, guess what? I caught a new team member! Wanna see?”

Her father smiles, but it does little to counteract his serious countenance. “Of course, Lianna.”

A voice in the background shouts, “Lianna? Is that Lee on the phone?”

“Who else would it be, dear? How many people do I call?”

There’s a brief moment of chaos on the other line as the Rotom phone spins around, readjusting to accommodate two faces instead of one. Where Lianna’s father is starkly pale and redheaded like her, Archie is dark-skinned and deeply tanned with scruffy facial hair and a scar between his eyes that resembles an X and he insists he got in a brawl with a wild Sharpedo. His voice matches his appearance, boisterous and wild, as he erupts into a grin and belts, “Hey, scamp! How’s Galar? Those folks bein’ nice to ya?”

Lianna laughs. “It’s fine, Archie. I was just about to show Daddy my new catch.”

“Ooh, let’s see it, scamp! You hear that, Maxie? Lee’s already catchin’ ‘erself some new teammates out there!”

“Yes, dear. I heard her.”

Lianna rolls her eyes at them for a moment, before she reaches down to collect Popsicle in her arms, bringing him up to the Rotom phone’s level. Archie croons in delight, while Maxie smiles in that eternally stern way of his. “This is Popsicle! He’s a Snom! Say hi!”

“Hey there, lil’ scamp! He’s a cute one, Lee!”

“He certainly is,” Maxie agrees, adjusting his glasses, “Hmm. An ice type, correct? We might have to let him hang out in the freezer when you get back home, it’s been terribly warm here lately.”

“I was thinking I might get him one of those cheap plastic pools and fill it with ice cubes,” Lianna tells them, returning Popsicle to his blanket nest and offering a hand to Stickybun, “You wanna say hi, Sticky? No? Okay.”

“Congratulations on your new catch, Lianna. How’s Rosa? They’re not overwhelming her, are they?”

“She’s fine,” Lianna says, “I’m sure she’s a little stressed, but she’s handling everything really well. Oh, gosh, you wanna hear what I did?”

Maxie is immediately suspicious. “What?”

“Rosa dragged me to some uptight fancy ball two nights ago,” Lianna chuckles, “and I met this guy.”

Archie laughs rambunctiously as Maxie exhales and comments, “Oh, Arceus, here we go.”

“No, no, not like that,” Lianna is quick to correct them, “Anyways, I challenged him to a battle. And then I found out he’s the  _ reigning world champion _ .”

Archie snorts with laughter while Maxie regards her calmly and prompts, “Well, did you win?”

“What the hell do you think?” Lianna asks.

“Language, Lianna,” he corrects her, “And I suppose it was a loss for you, but it must have been close. Arceus knows, you and that Manectric don’t go down easily.”

Lianna shrugs. “Anyways, he’s a pretty nice guy. He wasn’t an asshole about it. It was embarrassing.” She pauses, then adds, “How’s the rest of the team? Are they okay without me?”

“Of course,” Maxie reassures her, “They miss you. But they’re fine.”

“Your Mightyena ate Maxie’s slippers the other day,” Archie butts in. Maxie elbows him in the stomach.

“Oh, Asher,” Lianna chuckles, “Sorry about that, Daddy. I’ll replace them when I get back, promise.”

“Don’t worry about it, honey,” he says, “I suppose he only answers to you, or maybe he’s acting out because he misses you, who knows? But don’t worry, we’ll take good care of him and the others until you get back. Do you need anything?”

She smiles faintly, feeling a pang of homesickness. “Not right now, thanks. So, everything’s fine at home?”

“Everything’s swell, scamp! Don’t ya worry ‘bout a thing!”

“Things are fine, Lianna. Don’t worry about us. Have fun.”

“We love ya!”

“I love you, too. Take care. Bye.”

“Bye, honey, see you soon.”

“Later, scamp!”

The Rotom drifts back down to her nightstand as the call disconnects. Lianna sits there in silence for a moment, then reaches over to stroke Sticky between the antennae. “They’re a mess, huh?” she asks, to which the Goomy replies with an affirmative noise. Lianna chuckles, then rises to collect her snapback, situating it over her hair with the rim turned backwards. “What do you think, you two? What should we do today?”

Stickybun pipes up with a, “Goom, Goom!”

“No, Sticky, I’m sure Leon’s very busy and doesn’t want us bothering him every day that we’re here. We’re going to have to entertain ourselves today,” she says, pulling on the puffy white coat she purchased the previous day, “Guess we could call a cab, see what the rest of the region has to offer. The wild area was fun, but Leon said it could be pretty dangerous, so maybe we shouldn’t wander off by ourselves there. What do you guys say?” Stickybun chirrups happily, while Popsicle rears up and wiggles its nubby legs at her with an exclamation that Lianna  _ thinks  _ is happy, but she’s still learning how to read him. She chuckles at their enthusiasm. “Alright, it’s settled then. Let’s go see what all Galar has to offer.” 


	6. Chapter 6

Lianna passes the afternoon and early evening on some of the earlier routes, mentally cataloging the region’s native Pokemon and enjoying a picnic lunch on a grassy hillside with Stickybun and Popsicle - who, she has found, eats more than his tiny worm body should ever possibly allow. When the sun starts to set, Lianna calls a Corviknight cab and returns to her hotel room in Wyndon with a newly caught Sizzlipede - for Maxie, she thought the spunky little fire-type might catch his fancy.

Rosa comes in about an hour later, dropping her bag on the floor by her unmade bed with a weary sigh, finding Lianna sitting in bed in her pajamas and watching trashy TV over a cheap takeout dinner. The redhead swallows a mouthful of rice and asks, “Sup?”

Groaning, Rosa flops down on her bed. “I have some news.”

“Good news or bad news?” Lianna prompts, cocking a brow.

“Depends,” says Rosa, “How would you like to stay in Galar for an extra month?”

Lianna splutters, “An extra  _ month _ ?!”

“Chairman Rose thought it would be a  _ simply splendid _ idea for me to stay for Galar’s annual gym challenge next month,” Rosa groans, “Something, something, fostering good relations between Alola and Galar. It would be good for morale, blah, blah, blah.”

“Sounds like being champion isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” Lianna chuckles, then offers Rosa a carton of fried rice, “Want some?”

Rosa takes it, abducting Lianna’s chopsticks to cram a faceful of rice into her mouth, promptly losing half of it down the front of her shirt when she tries to talk with her mouth full, “You say that like you don’t already know.”

Lianna snorts, opening an extra package of chopsticks. “Yeah, I’ve watched it drain the life outta you for the past two years now. Is every region’s champion as miserable as you?”

“Who knows?” Rosa grumbles through another mouthful of rice, “Leon sure seems to enjoy it.”

Lianna thinks back to the previous evening in the wild area and Leon’s hauntingly hollow words, which sounded so strange and foreign coming from the same mouth that flashed a hundred cameras a hundred champion smiles every time he graced the stadium,  _ It’s hard sometimes, when you can’t really and truly be yourself because you think maybe...that isn’t the you the world wants to see. _

She frowns and hums weakly in response. Rosa looks at her, then grins and remarks, “Your heart’s throbbing at just the thought of him, huh?”

“C’mon, Rosa,” Lianna retorts, “It was cute the first time, but you’re really wearing your jokes thin here. I’ve known him for three days, he’s a sweetheart, he’s cute. But, let’s face it, he’s way, way out of my league. And besides...you should know by now that I’m bad at love.”

“Because you don’t try,” Rosa remarks, “Don’t think someone’s gonna fall head over heels for you when you sleep with them, sneak off before morning, and then block their number, Lee.”

Lianna shoots her a look. “I know that, Rosa. And  _ you  _ know why I do it. Nothing good ever comes of it when they decide to stick around.”

Shrugging, Rosa replies, “I know. But I’m just saying...Leon doesn’t seem like the type.”

“Neither did the last one,” Lianna laments, her fingers reflexively finding Sticky’s head to feel its soothing familiarity, “and besides, we’re not going to be here very long. A month isn’t long enough to decide you love someone.”

“Sounds like you’ve never been in love,” says Rosa, propping up on her elbow and grinning.

“I thought I was once,” Lianna replies, “Look where it got me.”

* * *

It’s Saturday. Lianna is unhappily awake and haphazardly dressed at 7:00AM, when an official escort arrives to take them to the stadium. Even at this hour, there’s a line from the lobby through the front doors and to the street corner, excited fans anticipating a match between two regional champions. The escort takes them through an employee entrance and leaves Lianna behind to seat herself while he leads Rosa to the private locker room where she’ll await the announcer’s call in a few hours, offered breakfast in the meantime. Lianna has no such luxury, slumping on a creaky old bench in the visitor locker room while she blearily bites into a granola bar. Her mind is only clear enough at this hour to remember to break a piece off and offer it to Stickybun, who is melting into the bench beside her, equally as enthused.

The double-doors to the locker room swing open with enough force to startle her, but her expression softens sleepily when she realizes it’s only Raihan. The skyscraper of a man strolls over to her casually, bending nearly double to scratch Stickybun between the antennae. “Hey, mate, Leon and Rosa sent me to fetch ya,” he remarks, already picking Sticky up to cuddle her underneath his chin, to which she purrs her name agreeably, “The escort was supposed to bring you up to our private lounge, guess he didn’t realize. We’re real sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Lianna waves him off, shouldering her satchel, “A private lounge sounds too swanky for me, anyways.”

“Like hell it is,” Raihan retorts, already leading her away, “You’re a guest of honor! And besides...Leon’s rarin’ to see ya again.”

She stops in her tracks. “What?”

“Yeah,” Raihan continues with a snaggle-toothed smirk, pausing momentarily while she catches up to him, each of his footsteps equal to three or four of hers, “Gotta say, mate, ya must be some kind of trainer to catch his eye like that! He says ya nearly kicked his ass!”

“He’s too modest,” says Lianna, “He wiped the floor with me and he knows it.”

“Leon’s no fool,” Raihan retorts, “He knows a good challenge when he sees one. Say…” He trails off, peering over his shoulder at Lianna with a lopsided smirk and almost dark taint to his deeply cerulean eyes. She doesn’t like the way he’s looking at her.

“What?” she asks.

“Y’know Rosa’s gotta run through the entire gym leader bracket before she faces Leon, yeah? So, all o’ us are here, too, and some of the others are warmin’ up in the stadium. But, Piers is late, so I’m missin’ my partner to warm up with,” Raihan tells her.

“Oh, no, no, no.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he laughs, Stickybun now seated on his shoulder as he pumps his fists in the air at her, “C’mon, let’s battle! If ya were good enough to almost best Leon, I wanna see it for myself!”

Somehow, Lianna knows she isn’t getting out of this one, so she resigns herself to her fate with a nod. “Fine, one battle. And it has to be one-on-one, I only have five Pokemon with me and one of them’s too fresh to fight.”

“No cigar,” Raihan disagrees, “Double battle or bust.”

She rolls her eyes. “Fine, a double battle it is. Don’t push it.”

“Right on,” Raihan cheers, and then he’s snapping a photo of himself with Sticky positioned on his shoulder with his Rotom phone flittering around him in midair.

“Do you ever put that thing away?” she grumbles, gingerly swatting the excitable Rotom away from her. It flutters back to Raihan with a staticy sound.

“No way, I might miss a good shot,” he laughs, swinging open the double-doors to the same stadium where she battled Leon three nights before. The other gym leaders are inside, most of them seated on the benches while Melody and Opal have a practice match against each other.

“Oh, another thing,” Lianna thinks to add as she joins Raihan on the bench to watch the match, “I don’t have one of those Dynamax band things.”

“No worries, mate. We don’t Dynamax in practice matches, anyways,” he reassures her, before snapping another selfie with Stickybun, who relishes in the attention, “She’s photogenic. Unusual for a Goomy.”

The battle before them ends with Melody, a middle-aged woman who utilizes ice types, Lianna had taken the time to find out the previous night before the exhibition match, emerging victorious. Raihan rises, sitting Stickybun down on the bench and clapping his hands on his shorts to rid them of lingering slime. “Alright, Lianna,” he cheers, “Looks like Piers is gonna be a no-show for now, so we’re up!”

Lianna can feel a slightly judgemental general gaze on her from the other gym leaders and she doesn’t blame them. She’s a complete stranger to them, who wasn’t even supposed to be here, unwittingly welcomed into their ranks by Raihan’s invitation. Raihan must feel it, too, because he swivels on his heel and remarks, with a beaming grin full of bright white teeth, “Hey, this is that trainer who almost beat Leon the other night! Ya guys think she’s a worthy adversary?”

Lianna curses Raihan under her breath as the general mood of the gym leaders lifts. She’s caught their interest now, thanks to him.  _ Someone’s going to recognize you, if you don’t stop getting yourself into these situations, _ she reminds herself as she follows Raihan to the battlefield, not dressed for combat, but neither is he. 

The instant he’s on the battlefield, Raihan is a different beast. His friendly grin turns into a sharp smile full of teeth, the competitive gleam in his eyes suddenly aggressive. He tosses two Pokeballs into the air, from which the shapes of a Duralodon and a  _ dreaded  _ ground-type Flygon solidify with bellowing, threatening cries.

_ Great _ , Lianna thinks, then frees her Manectric and Vaporeon, mulling over the possibilities in her mind for how she can possibly counter this. She’s at a disadvantage, but it isn’t the first time. She can appreciate the challenge.

Her Manectric is fast and starts to widdle down Duralodon with supercharged Wild Charges and the occasional Crunch, while her Vaporeon guards it from Flygon’s ground-type attacks with Hydro Pump and Aqua Ring. Lianna has to be fast, too, if she wants to spot those rare openings for attack through the eye-stinging haze of the Sandstorm Raihan has put up, buffeting her Manectric badly. She’s fighting a losing battle, she has to think fast.

Lianna has never encountered a Duralodon before now, but it isn’t farfetched to guess that its steel-type and resistant to Kaizen’s electric attacks, crippling her ace. It’s a massive relief when a critical-hit Hydro Pump from her Vaporeon engulfs Flygon and sends it buckling to the ground beneath water-weighted wings, fainted. Raihan snarls as he returns it, and immediately settles the score with a Breaking Swipe from Duralodon that faints Lianna’s Vaporeon. Groaning, Lianna returns her fallen teammate, left with no choice but to face down Raihan’s own ace with her wounded Manectric.

It’s an intense battle. Lianna and Raihan exchange remarks and insults while their Pokemon spar, Duralodon consistently outsped by the much smaller and nimbler Manectric but hitting doubly as hard. Kaizen sounds off with a Charge, then a Thunder, and Duralodon recoils from the damage of its own Stone Edge a turn later. Lianna slides across her side of the field on the astroturf, spotting the opening she needs as Duralodon falters from recoil damage. “Kaizen, finish it! Wild Charge again!”

Her Manectric glowers viciously yellow with electricity. The stadium lights flicker as she calls upon their electricity for strength, and then she surges across the arena with all the recklessness and strength of a rampaging Gyrados, colliding with Duralodon’s immovably hard chest and sending up billows of dust that conceal the scene as the dragon cries out.

The clouds of dust clear as Duralodon stumbles backwards a step, staggers, and falls onto its backside, defeated. Kaizen returns to Lianna, fleet-footed but battered, looking immeasurably pleased with herself as her trainer stoops to hug her, face buried in her staticy mane. Around them, the stadium answers with stunned silence. Raihan returns his Pokemon, still gawking in disbelief. He lost. She beat him. She actually beat him.

But, Lianna finds herself being practically jerked to her feet by the force of his handshake as he crosses the arena to meet her, responding only with delight at a battle well-fought. “Alright, mate! That was stellar! The way ya battle with that Manectric, that’s really something!”

Lianna exhales shakily, still somewhat in shock herself, smiling weakly. “Ha, it must have been good luck. I thought I was screwed when I saw that Flygon of yours.”

“No way!” says Raihan, clapping her on the back so hard it almost hurts, nearly toppling her comparatively tiny form over, “I know skill when I see it! You’ve been holdin’ out on us, haven’t ya? You’re a bloody magnificent trainer! Now I see why Leon was so excited to meet ya!”

Lianna is about to respond when clapping to their right distracts her. She turns, completely unsurprised to see Leon standing there, cape trailing behind him like always, smiling as he approaches. “Good show, you two,” he says, “Careful, Raihan. You’ve got competition.”

“Damn right I do,” Raihan agrees. Lianna looks away, cheeks colored faintly pink at the sudden attention. She should have thrown the battle, let Raihan win. It was less trouble that way.

“Good work, Lianna. Raihan doesn’t go down easy,” Leon praises her and it’s almost more than she can bear, nearly stumbling backwards in surprise when he lifts a hand to touch her cheek, “Easy, easy. You have dirt on your face, I’m just getting it off.”

He really has no idea what he does to her. She answers with a meek, “Thanks. I should probably go wash up before the exhibition starts.”

“Oh, hell no,” Raihan interrupts, “Ya can’t show us a battle like this and then expect to just walk away! You’re comin’ with us to the private lounge! We wanna chat, hear some secrets!”

Lianna’s protest dies on her tongue when Leon throws an arm around her shoulders, commenting, “He’s right, you know. C’mon, we’ll get you a better seat than whatever Chairman Rose set you up with. Have you had breakfast?”

“I haven’t,” she says, shrugging his arm off to return Kaizen to her Pokeball and take Sticky from Raihan, who has retrieved her from the bench. Sticky croons at her, nuzzling underneath her chin proudly. Lianna can’t help but smile at the little slime ball.

“C’mon, a battle like that deserves some good food and good company,” Leon tells her, already leading her away. Raihan follows them, the other gym leaders lingering in the stadium, either for more practice or to process Raihan’s unanticipated defeat, who knows.

The private gym leader lounge is appropriately comfortable and luxurious, outfitted with velvet-cushioned couches with ugly fringed upholstery and several massive, flat-screen television screens with speakers to watch the exhibition matches a safe distance from the stadium and the fans. Right now, the far wall is occupied by what remains of a breakfast buffet, catered from a local restaurant. “Help yourself,” Leon tells her as he sits down on one of the sofas, “Chairman Rose must’ve dragged Rosa away from a moment, she was just here.”

Lianna privately wishes Rosa was there to save her, now that questions are undoubtedly coming, but she settles for preparing herself a plate of food and standing by the buffet table to eat it. “I’m sure I’ll see her after the match. I’ve already wished her luck.”

“Wonder who’ll win,” Raihan comments, nibbling on a scone from the buffet, “These are good.”

“They are,” Lianna agrees, “You better watch out, Leon. Rosa’s a tough trainer.”

“Yeah?” prompts Leon, from where he’s lounging on the velvet sofa, looking like he’s exactly where he belongs, a prince on his throne, “How tough? You ever battled her?”

“Sure I have,” she says, “but don’t ask me for any tips. I like you well enough, champ, but I’m not giving you an unfair advantage over my best friend.”

He chuckles good-naturedly. “Wasn’t going to. Just curious if you’ve ever beaten her.”

Lianna swallows a mouthful of food. “Oh, well…”

“You have,” Leon says knowingly, smiling faintly, “Your face gave you away. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody.”

“Not sure why you would wanna keep it a secret, anyways,” Raihan butts in, “You’re strong enough to beat a champion. So...why don’t you? You’re tough as hell, Lianna, how are you not at least a gym leader?”

“Raihan,” Leon scolds him.

“It’s okay,” she reassures them, “And...I just don’t want to be. It’s too much responsibility, too much work, too much strain on my Pokemon. It’s just…”

Lianna closes her eyes.

_ Maxie is reading pleasantly on the sofa, his head reclined into his husband’s lap while Archie threads his fingers through his hair disinterestedly, when the front door flies open with enough force to slam it into the wall behind itself. It’s Lianna. _

_ He starts to scold her, when he realizes that there are tears streaming down pasty red cheeks already streaked and muddied with a half hour’s worth of crying. She’s gasping, panting, those thin sides of hers heaving. Something is wrong. Very, very wrong. _

_ Archie reacts before him. “Lee! What’s wrong?” _

_ Maxie is on his feet in an instant, closing his book and setting it aside as he rushes to his daughter’s side. Lianna recoils when he rests a hand on her shoulder and he withdraws, frowning apologetically, “I’m sorry. Now, tell us what’s going on, Lianna.” _

_ Lianna hiccups with a sob as she throws her arms around her father’s waist and buries her face right up against his chest, dampening his shirt with tears, but he doesn’t mind. He wraps an arm around her, cradling her head, shushing her softly. “Lianna, please. What’s wrong? What happened?” _

_ Archie scrambles for a box of tissues, plucking a few out to offer them to her before he places a gentle hand on her lower back. She blinks back fresh tears and sees only concern in their eyes, not judgement, not failed expectations. This is the one place she feels really and truly safe, here with her father and stepfather, the only two people in the world who look at her and don’t expect her to just be happy, just be proud, just be… _

_ She shudders. “It’s him. I saw him, I swear it.” _

_ Maxie’s fingers tighten against her back. “He can’t touch you here. He won’t.” _

_ “He won’t,” Archie agrees adamantly, “C’mon, Lee, let’s sit down. Let’s talk about it.” _

_ “What’s there to talk about?” she half-sniffles, half-sobs, “Wherever I go, he’s going to find me if I keep... _ **_standing out_ ** _ like this. I have to stop making a name for myself, it just makes me easier to find. I don’t know what I was thinking, coming here, doing this! It was stupid, I should have known what would happen!” _

_ “Don’t beat yourself up, scamp,” Archie says, “Ya thought he was gone. Ya had no reason to live your life in secret, and ya shouldn’t have to.” _

_ “We’re here for you, Lianna,” Maxie tells her, one finger gently drying her tears as he tilts her chin up to look at them, smiling in his stern but affectionate way, “We’re always going to be here for you, no matter what you are or aren’t.” _

_ Lianna doesn’t know what to do, so she resigns herself to burying her face in her father’s chest and crying until she can’t anymore, while her knees tremble in a fear she thought she had forgotten. It isn’t over. It still isn’t over. _

Lianna opens her eyes. She’s here, with Leon and Raihan and Stickybun hanging off her shoulder, but she remembers the moment when her fears became reality once more so distinctly, so clearly, that she only has to close her eyes for a moment to relive it. Here she is again, creating unnecessary attention for herself, putting herself in the public eye in ways she knows she shouldn’t, being a complete and utter fool for the sake of a battle. She has to stop. She knows she has to stop. Why doesn’t she just stop?

“Lianna?” Leon prompts.

Lianna clears her throat and hopes she didn’t show herself too much. “It’s like I told you before, champ. It just wasn’t what I wanted.”


	7. Chapter 7

It’s 11:00AM when the stadium starts to fill. It’s a sold-out tournament, Lianna notes as she observes the anxious audience from one of the TV screens in the private lounge. Galar’s people live for their exhibitions, apparently. Finally, after a morning’s eternity of patiently waiting, Chairman Rose walks out onto the pitch, waving merrily, and introduces Champion Rosa of Alola - and then the matches can finally, finally begin.

Lianna entertains Stickybun with a cutesy app on her phone while she watches the matches, unsurprised when the majority of the gym leaders are no trouble at all for Rosa. Rosa is tough as nails, stronger than she knows, and a great trainer. She’s the type of person someone could rely on for support and strength. Being champion suits her. Leader after leader after leader falls to Salazzle, Lycanroc, and Incineroar - a scarred old Pokemon missing most of one of its ears after a fight with a Bewear back in Alola. Soon, only Raihan stands between Rosa and Leon, and it isn’t long before he, too, falls to her. 

Referees bound across the battlefield to heal Rosa’s Pokemon, and then Leon is approaching her from the pitch, that gaudy cape flowing behind him and his suddenly stern face cast in the shadow of his snapback’s crown-embellished rim. He looks so serious for a moment, Lianna thinks as she watches him onscreen, and then he’s striking a pose with his head down and one hand in the air and she can’t help but laugh. What a goofball, but the audience loves it, cheering so loudly that it nearly puts her ears out through the lounge’s speakers. She can’t imagine how loud it must be inside the stadium itself.

Rosa fights hard, but the closer she comes to defeat, the more frustrated she becomes, the more easily exploited. Leon takes advantage of this and, soon enough, the battle is over. Rosa’s Incineroar stumbles and falls beneath the swift-witted might of an Ancient Power from Leon’s Charizard, and the crowd erupts into such applause and cheers that the speakers in the lounge start to rattle with static. Raihan rises to adjust them, fiddling with the dials, while the rest of the gym leaders commentate on Leon’s victory. No one seems surprised - and, truthfully, Lianna isn’t, either. Rosa is strong, Lianna had always admired her prowess and skill, but Leon is in a league all his own. Maybe he really _is_ undefeatable, she thinks to herself as she gathers her things and hoists Stickybun onto her shoulder.

“No use in trying to leave right now,” Raihan tells her as he sits back down, “The crowds flood outta here after a match, takes awhile for the foot traffic to clear. Just hang out with us awhile, Rosa and Leon should be by soon.”

“Good idea,” Lianna agrees, sitting back down beside him. Stickybun slithers down her shoulder for Raihan to stroke and scratch her.

“Say,” Raihan pipes up after a moment, “who were ya rootin’ for?”

“What kind of question is that?” Lianna snorts, “Rosa, of course! She’s my best friend!”

“Yeah, I know,” Raihan concedes, “Say, mate, some of us are headin’ out for drinks later. Why don’t you and Rosa come with us?”

She blinks at him. “Thanks for the invite, but I’m sure Rosa’s exhausted after the match.”

“But, you aren’t,” he points out, beaming toothily, and she sighs, “C’mon. Leon’s gonna be there.”

Lianna laughs, quirking a brow. “And that’s supposed to carry some weight for me?”

He winks at her. “Ya know it does.”

She hates that she can feel the warmth creeping into her cheeks, hates that Raihan can clearly see it, hates that he smirks knowingly at her and wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. “I’ll...ask Rosa if she wants to go.”

“Right on, mate!” Raihan cheers, clapping her on the back.

She winces. “Would you watch it? Not all of us are indestructible walls of muscle, y’know.”

“Sorry. Got a bit too excited,” he chuckles, the touch that just rattled her spine now exaggeratedly gentle as he pats her on the back. She swats him away, grinning playfully, then turns when she hears the door open.

It’s Leon - but Rosa isn’t with him. Lianna frowns, watching only the door as the other gym leaders rush to congratulate Leon with hugs and handshakes and cheers. Something’s wrong.

“Raihan,” she whispers as she takes Sticky, rising to leave, “I’m going to check on Rosa. Might have to take a rain check on those drinks, sorry.”

“No worries,” he agrees, nodding good-naturedly, “Hope she’s okay. Tell her not to take it too personally, Leon’s undefeated for a reason.”

“Thanks, I will,” Lianna says, then slips out of the room. The walkways are as crowded as she expected this soon after the match, the dispersing crowds radiating with energy and excitement. She spends a solid eight minutes fighting her way to the locker room. Rosa isn’t a crier, but if she was upset, she would want to be alone - and the gym leader lockers are the best bet for privacy in a place as crowded and hectic as this. Lianna isn’t surprised when she finds her there, seated on a deserted bench with her arms around her Lycanroc’s neck, face buried in its mane as she sniffles.

Lianna sits down beside her. “Hey. Good match out there. You tried your best and that’s what matters.”

“Oh, piss off,” Rosa retorts, “That was _humiliating,_ Leon wiped the floor with me. We both knew I was going to lose, but not like _that._ I didn’t even get the chance to set up before he had me backed into a corner.”

Lianna shrugs. “Leon’s the reigning world champion, Rosa. He has the title of undefeated for a reason. He’s a great trainer, but you are, too. Don’t sell yourself short over one loss.”

“You don’t get it,” Rosa snaps, surprising Lianna with her harshness, “I’m Alola’s _first_ champion. Galar has a reputation for boasting some of the strongest trainers in the world, but Alola boasts some of the _weakest_ because we’ve never had a proper league. I _have_ to be strong for my people, for my region.”

“You feel like you have something to prove,” Lianna says for her, “I get it.”

“You _don’t_ get it,” Rosa retorts, “You’re not the one who just got their ass kicked in front of millions of people.”

Lianna crosses her arms. “In case you’ve forgotten, I _have_ gotten my ass kicked in front of millions of people before. Multiple times, in fact. I’ve competed in three different leagues, for fuck’s sake, I’ve had my share of losses. A weak trainer wouldn’t have made it as far as Raihan, much less Leon. You did your best, that’s all you can do. So, are you done feeling bad for yourself yet?”

Rosa sports a pout. “No.”

“Go back to the hotel room, Rosa,” Lianna offers, “Get some rest. Call your boyfriend. Watch a dumb TV show. Just relax for a bit. You’ll feel better.”

“What about you?” Rosa hiccups.

“Depends. Do you want me to stay with you, or do you need some time alone?”

Rosa considers it for a moment, then her arms tighten around Lycanroc’s neck. “I...would like to be alone, if it’s not too much to ask.”

“It’s not,” Lianna reassures her, “I’m gonna go get a drink. I’ll see you tonight, okay? Just text me if you need anything, yeah?”

Rosa nods.

“At least let me take you back to the hotel room, I don’t want any paparazzi jumping you while you’re down,” Lianna offers. Rosa hesitates, then nods again, and Lianna rises, offering her a hand.

Their walk back to the hotel room is blessedly uneventful. No one tries to stop them, either because the crowds have already forgotten about Rosa or because Rosa’s bad mood emanuates such powerful “fuck off” vibes that no one dares to come towards them. Lianna sees her safely back to the hotel room, before slipping away to shower. It was warm in the stadium and there’s dried sweat on her skin from her earlier battle with Raihan, she’s almost certain she reeks. She changes into something simple: leggings with a sweater dress that cinches in at the waist, a dainty choker, and her favorite snapback, which she feels glaringly naked without.

Rosa looks at her as she’s getting her things together to leave, quirking a brow suspiciously. “You’re going to see him, aren’t you?”

“Raihan invited us out for drinks tonight,” Lianna informs her as she returns Sticky to her Pokeball, tucking it into her handbag, “but I told him I didn’t think we could make it when Leon came in without you after the match. Do you know how I could get in touch with him?”

“Raihan? I thought you were chasing Leon, make up your mind,” Rosa laughs dryly, then reaches for her Rotom phone, scrolling through her Pokegram, “I’ll send him a DM with your number and tell him to text you.”

“Didn’t realize you two were close enough to follow each other on Pokegram,” Lianna commented, “and shut up, Leon’s gonna be there.”

“So, you admit you’re chasing him,” Rosa remarks, “and we’re not close. Raihan will follow anybody on Pokegram. He’s a social media slut.”

Lianna chooses to ignore her first remark. “Why am I not surprised? Is that why he’s always taking selfies?”

“Selfies that get more likes in five minutes than we’ve ever gotten in our lives, combined,” says Rosa, rolling her eyes, “Oh, and he’s apparently dating that Piers guy.”

“What?” Lianna gawks, visibly surprised. Piers hadn’t shown to practice earlier that morning, which is why Raihan had dragged her into being his ‘training partner’ to begin with, but she had seen him in the private lounge later: a skeletal twink of a man, ghostly pale, bordering on sickly, with a mess of black-and-white hair. She remembered trying to decide if it was black with bleached white stripes or white with dyed black stripes as she studied him, before he was called upon to battle Rosa. _This_ was the man Raihan - muscular, unnaturally large, stunningly gorgeous Raihan - was dating.

“Yeah, I know,” Rosa says, “Opposites attract, I guess.”

“They barely spoke today,” Lianna comments, still convinced her friend is bluffing her for shits and giggles.

Rosa shrugs. “Piers doesn’t seem like the type to be too big on PDA. Raihan’s all over social media with him, though, so I believe it. Anyways, you go on and have fun.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you? Because I will, no questions asked.”

“I’m fine, Lee,” Rosa insists, “Go on. Have fun. Good luck with your champion catch.”

Lianna has given up on scolding her, permitting her teasing for tonight. “Do you need anything while I’m out?”

“Sure,” Rosa remarks, “Bring me a drink back from the bar.”

“I’ll try,” says Lianna, before she slips out the door, just before her Rotom phone chimes with a notification and vibrates in her purse. She checks it to find a string of messages from Raihan, consisting of a hello, a tangle of emojis, and the address to the bar. It’s in Hammerlocke - Raihan’s turf - so she ventures down to the hotel lobby to call a Corviknight cab. The Corviknights are strong, sleek, swift fliers and, fifteen minutes later, she’s there. 

Hammerlocke is easily twice the size of Wyndon, but where Wyndon is industrialized and sleek, Hammerlocke beckons to the days of old, with its cobblestone streets and medieval-looking buildings and storefronts, standing in stark contrast to the things they have on display in their embellished windows. It’s marginally warmer here, even as the evening turns to night, Lianna’s walk from the Pokemon Center to the bar lit by silvery moonlight and streetlamps alike. She’s slightly surprised to see a bar with _The Sleazy Dragon_ scripted above its entryway in glaring neon lights in a place as classy as Hammerlocke and wonders if Raihan had anything to do with it as she slips inside after the bouncer checks her ID. 

Inside, Leon’s purple head of hair catches her eye even in the low lighting, dodging waitresses toting greasy bar food and mixed drinks to tables as she makes her way over to them. Raihan is seated across from him, already tipsy, with an arm slung around the shoulders of the skeletal twink named Piers, the region’s dark-type gym leader. While Raihan and Piers have dressed down for the night, Leon is as gaudy as ever, sporting his gym clothes and snapback, possibly the same uniform that he wore to the exhibition earlier that day. But, eerily enough, the cape is mysteriously missing tonight.

“Hello,” Lianna greets them semi-awkwardly as she slides into the empty seat beside Leon, “Sorry I’m late, what did I miss?”

“Nothing much,” Leon laments, “Raihan’s four drinks deep and already trying to serenade us. Oh, have you met Piers?”

“Not formally,” says Lianna, offering the staunchly gothic man a tentative smile while Raihan tries to suck his cheek off with a sloppy kiss. Piers swats him.

“Nice to meet ya,” Piers responds in a thick accent that Lianna assumes must be from his part of Galar, while he tries to fend Raihan off with a fork, “Lianna, right? You Leon’s date?”

Lianna starts to say no, but Leon answers for her, with a big goofy grin, “Yep! Cute, huh?”

She doesn’t even bother to hide the blush that creeps into her cheeks with warmth, adjusting her glasses to busy her hands. “Yeah, yeah,” Piers remarks, thumping Raihan in the chest affectionately as he offers a rare smile, “I thought this bloke was cute, too, three drinks ago.”

“You’re so mean,” Raihan giggles drunkenly, thumping his chin down on Piers’ shoulder. Piers cups his cheek, squeezing his jaw gently with a rather tender smile. They’re surprisingly cute together, Lianna thinks, before a waitress comes to take her drink order and interrupts her train of thought. She orders a sex on the beach, while Piers stops Raihan from ordering another shot of tequila and very pointedly informs the waitress that he’ll have a _water_ instead.

Leon chuckles at the unlikely pair, sipping his beer, then peers over at Lianna and asks, “How’s Rosa fairing? I know she was pretty upset when we left the arena.”

“She’s holding up,” Lianna tells him, shrugging, “She’s Alola’s first champion, so she feels like she has something to prove when she goes up against anybody. But, she’ll get over it. Losses happen, it’s part of life.”

“Not for Leon!” Raihan cheers from across the table. Piers shushes him by cramming a chip into his mouth, giving him something to chew on besides his own tongue.

“That’s right,” Lianna muses, “You’re the undefeated champion. That’s quite the title, you know. Most of the champions I know have been beaten at least once or twice.”

Leon shrugs, sipping beer. “I didn’t intend for it to be that way. I do what feels right, when I’m battling, and it just worked out that way.”

Lianna’s cocktail arrives and she sips it, slipping her tongue underneath the garnishing cherry to flick it into her mouth, holding it between her plump lips. “You’re quite the trainer,” she says, tongue swirling over the cherry’s surface suggestively. She’s coming on strong and she knows it, but Leon said she was his date, so she might as well act like it.

But, Leon doesn’t seem too flustered, smiling kindly as he watches her with those deliciously deep honey-golden eyes. “Thanks, Lianna. You are, too.”

Overhead, the club music changes from a dubstep remix of a catchy pop song to something headier, sultrier. Raihan elbows Piers and says, “Hey, come dance with me, babe.”

Chuckling, Piers rises and offers Raihan both hands. “Y’know, I think I’m just tipsy enough to say yes. Lucky you.”

Raihan trails Piers to the dance floor, hand-in-hand. Piers’ body, which had seemed almost skeletal before, underweight and sickly, moves with the grace of an Arbok before the strike, swaying and twisting femininely against Raihan’s more masculine, restrained movements. Lianna watches them for a moment, then sips her drink, commenting, “Unlikely pair.”

“Yeah, I know,” Leon agrees, “But Raihan is head over heels for him. I’m happy for ‘em. Listen, I’m sorry I upset Rosa.”

She scoffs. “Hey, it isn’t your fault, champ. You were defending your title. She challenged you. She should have known that losing was a possibility. A good possibility, considering she was challenging the reigning world champion. And besides...she’ll come back from it. One loss won’t be enough to finish her for good. She’s stronger than that.”  
“Mmm,” he hums.

Lianna studies him for a moment, then offers him a soft smile, sipping her drink. “Hey, forget about it. Tonight, you’re no one’s champion. You’re just...Leon. You don’t have to keep up this act for me. It...must be stressful.”

He glances at her from the corner of one eye. She’s propped up on one elbow, smiling at him like he’s the only person in the room. But, there’s something deeper in her soft brown eyes: understanding. He hums, then leans back in the booth and smiles knowingly, closing his eyes. “Lianna, which region were you champion of?”

She scoffs, spluttering into her cocktail. “What? Leon, that’s -”

“C’mon, Lianna,” he interrupts her, still smiling, “It’s _painfully_ obvious. I’m not as dense as people seem to think. You were somewhere’s champion, weren’t you? You really _do_ know what it’s like, don’t you?”

Lianna swallows hard, glancing away, glancing back. He’s looking at her so earnestly, so imploringly, she couldn’t possibly lie to him. She sighs and tells him, “Hoenn.”

“Mmhm,” he hums.

“You gonna ask me why I quit?” she snarks.

Leon smiles gently. “No, because I know you’re not going to tell me. I don’t want to push you. I would rather wait ‘til you’re ready, you can tell me in your own time, if you choose to tell me at all.”

“What gave it away?” she asks, as she finishes her drink and sits the empty glass down on the table beside the three plates of food Raihan absolutely destroyed before she arrived.

“A lot of things,” he chuckles, “Oh, and Raihan Googled it earlier.”

“Oh, fuck him.”

“Sorry, hun, but I think Piers has those bases covered,” Leon laughs, “He said he couldn’t believe you were just any old trainer, especially not from Alola, a region that didn’t even have a proper league until recently. So, he got your last name off your visitor badge at the stadium earlier and looked it up. You’re a retired Hoenn champ.”

Lianna’s jaw tightens. “What else did he tell you?”

“Nothing,” he says, surprising her, “He showed me the Pokepedia article on you and it’s incredibly sparse. Only has your name, your birthday, and what your team was at the time. Said your ace was your Manectric, but we already knew that. She’s one tough cookie, wiping the floor with Raihan’s Duralodon like that.”

“Yeah, she is,” she muses, privately relieved that there were no other details included in whatever internet articles Raihan had been snooping on. Lianna likes the internet well enough, but it makes it accursedly difficult to keep secrets from anybody these days, she thinks, then realizes how old that makes her sound.

Leon is watching her carefully. “Hey, don’t worry. I won’t tell anybody. Nobody has to know. And I’ll be sure to tell Raihan to mind his own business from now on.”

She answers weakly, “Thanks.”

“Whatever...happened to make you not want to be champion anymore,” he says, hesitantly, “I’m sorry that it did. You would’ve been a great champion.”

“I’ve already told you,” replies Lianna, “It wasn’t what I wanted. Nothing happened. I just...couldn’t handle the spotlight anymore. I just wanted to stay home with my family.”

Leon’s eyes brighten. “Family?”

“Yeah,” she says, relieved to have changed the subject, “My dad and stepdad. They’re a couple of goofballs, but I love them.”

He nods. “Any siblings?”

“I’m afraid not,” she laments, “You?”

The smile that answers her lights up Leon’s entire face as he tells her, in a voice dripping with pride, “I have a little brother named Hop!”

She can’t help but giggle at his happiness, just mentioning his little brother’s name. “How old is he?”

“Twelve,” Leon tells her, “I’m planning on visiting him soon and bringing him and the neighbor’s kid their first Pokemon in a few weeks, right before the gym challenge. I’m going to endorse them both, give them the opportunity to test the waters with Pokemon battling. Hop wants to be champion someday, just like his big brother.”

Lianna smiles. “That’s great! Think he’ll go as far as you someday?”

“I know he will,” Leon says, “Even if it isn’t as champion like he wants, he’s going to go far in his own way, and that’s all that matters. But, if it happens to him who challenges me in the end, I couldn’t be prouder. There’s no one else I’d rather lose to.”

“That’s sweet,” she says, “You said you were going to endorse him and the neighbor’s kid? You have to be endorsed to participate in the league here?”

“Well, yeah,” he snorts, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

She laughs. “Wow, where I come from, the professor just tosses you a Pokemon once you’re ten and your parents throw you out.”

“What?” Leon gapes at her. “Where exactly are you from, Lee?”

Lianna laughs. “It’s not important. Besides...Piers and Raihan look like they’re having fun up there on the dance floor. What do you say, champ? Wanna dance?”

Leon considers it, sipping through the last third of his beer, then hums and smiles at her. “Alright. Let’s dance.”


	8. Chapter 8

The music throbs. The strobelights pulse. The dancefloor is just dark enough to conceal the unwashed grime accumulated on its tacky checkered tiles over the years.

Piers moves with grace and rhythm that Lianna wishes she had. She’s no stranger to clubs, spending her fair share of time in seedy bars with future one-night stands, but she’s never been much of a dancer, lacking the innate sense of rhythm to match with the music, coming across more awkward than alluring as she tries to match Leon’s pace. He isn’t as melodically graceful as Piers, but he isn’t bad, either, the brightly colored lights highlighting the masculine line of his jaw, streaked with neatly shaped facial hair, and catching on the tight muscle of his neck when he moves. He’s one hell of a piece of eye candy, she thinks as her backside meets his pelvis, his hands lingering shyly on her hips.

Leon meets her eye timidly, strobelights glinting off her glasses. The eccentric lighting accents the smooth oval shape of her face so perfectly, highlighting the way her plush lips shine softly with a thin coat of pink gloss. The semi-darkness conceals his flushed cheeks, honey-golden eyes darting fleetingly away.

She inches closer to him, reaches for his hands, holds them flush to her hips with a good-natured smile. “Y’know, for someone who spends so much of their time in front of an entire stadium filled to the brim with people, you’re suddenly acting shy. What’s the matter? Not good with girls, champ?”

“Just not used to...this,” Leon remarks, as Lianna’s butt meets his pelvis again.

Lianna edges away meekly, with a soft, “Sorry, I didn’t -”

His hands encircle her hips and pull her back against him so quickly, he apologizes. But, his grip on her hips doesn’t loosen, holding her close as he starts to sway with her to the rhythm, lips brushing up against the shell of her ear in a way that makes her shudder. “You don’t have to stop.”

“Not so shy after all, are we, pretty boy?” she asks with a smirk, hands on his, following his lead. Her rhythm is much sounder with him there to guide her.

Raihan flashes Leon a sharp knowing look through the dimness, then winks once and makes an exaggerated kissing motion in midair. Leon glares daggers at him, then presses his face up against the nape of Lianna’s neck, a feeling tugging at his chest when he notices eyes on them from the bar. A couple of people, watching Lianna - or, more likely, watching him, so easily recognizable and caught club dancing with a strange woman, but that much doesn’t bother him after all these years in the spotlight - with a snake’s dark beady eyes. _Wanting_ eyes. He isn’t blind; he knows that she’s an attractive woman in her prime, she would catch anyone’s eye. He realizes that the feeling he feels so tightly in his chest is _protectiveness._ She doesn’t deserve to be objectified that way, no one does. She’s a person, not a plaything.

Lianna follows Leon’s lead in what she imagines is a very disjointed but acceptable dance, blissfully unaware that she’s caught the eye of any would-be suitors seated at the bar, purring in the back of her mind when Leon presses close to her. He feels strong, warm, safe. This is ordinarily the point in the night when she would whisper something suggestive in her suitor’s ear, grind up against them, and beckon them to follow her outside and back to her hotel room. But, she can’t do that to Leon - not because he has a reputation to maintain, or even because he’s champion, but because he’s too human to her. Too earnest, too kind, too real. It’s easy to welcome someone in for a single night to satisfy her needs, then walk away without ever having truly known them. She already knows Leon too well - and, stranger still, she wants to know him better. This isn’t how she plays her games, isn’t how she functions. This isn’t how she stays safe.

And yet, here in this raunchy, tacky club, with its faux medieval decor and grimy floors and greasy bar food, with Leon’s arms around her, she’s never felt safer.

“Piers has my envy,” she says after awhile, yelling to be heard over the music’s heady throb, “I wish I could move like that.”

“Yeah, me too,” Leon laughs against her ear, “You look pretty tonight.”

“Thanks,” Lianna says, smiling, “So do you. Wish my hair had that much volume.”

The two laugh. Leon nuzzles up against her nape again and her face burns, but somehow, she doesn’t mind it. The friendly flirting with him feels nothing but nice. And then he asks, “Do you wanna go for a walk?”

She has a strict policy about wandering off alone with men to anywhere other than their bedroom, particularly places like parks where she could be caught off-guard more easily with no one to turn to for help. But, Leon isn’t the type of person she’s worried about, so she considers it for a moment, nods, and thinks to ask, “Will Piers and Raihan be okay without us?”

Leon shrugs. “Raihan’s about the biggest, burliest, scariest bloke in Galar, I don’t think he has anything to worry about.”

Lianna giggles. “But, will Piers be safe from Raihan?”

“Debatably,” Leon chuckles into her ear, then takes her hand and leads her off the dancefloor, pausing at the table to leave a few bills to cover his beer and a few more as a tip for the waitress. Then, he’s slipping outside with her, exhaling into the warm, clear nighttime air and offering her an arm. “Hammerlocke’s beautiful. I thought you might like to see it.”

“It is beautiful,” she agrees, accepting his arm to hold as he shows her the town, pausing occasionally to inspect something interesting, like the strikingly blue flowers growing in a window box at a storefront or the place where the ivy weaves up the stone way in intricate patterns, “Where are we going?”

“Nowhere,” he says, smiling, “Just for a walk.”

“Sounds like a good way to get lost, knowing you,” Lianna laughs, and he laughs right along with her, hands in his pockets with her hands soft and warm on his arm. He’s warm as a furnace, compared to Lianna’s eternally anemic cold, and she flanks closer to him in the shadows, where the night grows slightly cooler.

“You’re probably right,” he laments, finding them a comfortable bench to sit beneath the yellow halo of a streetlamp, the sound of a decorative fountain running nearby, “I still feel bad, for upsetting Rosa.”

“You shouldn’t,” she tells him, “It was an honest match.” She pauses, considering it for a moment, then adds, “I hope that doesn’t make me sound like a bad friend. I just wouldn’t expect someone to throw a match, even for someone I love. Rosa’s just...a little stressed right now. She’s never been invited to an exhibition before. She hasn’t been champion very long.”

“Alola hasn’t had a league very long,” Leon adds, “She’s their first. That in itself is an honor.”

“Right,” says Lianna, “I’m sure she’ll feel better once we’re back home. But, she did drop the bomb on me the other night that we’re staying for the gym challenge.”

His face lights up with a smile. “You are?”

“Chairman Rose requested it, I guess Rosa couldn’t say no,” she sighs, shrugging, “She’s probably missing her boyfriend something fierce.”

He glances at her from the corner of one eye. “What about you?”

“Don’t worry, champ,” she reassures him, “I don’t have one. Only people waiting for me back home are my dads. And my other Pokemon, of course.”

“They must miss you,” he says.

“Not as much as you’re going to miss me when I leave, if you keep this up,” she warns him.

“I’ll take that risk,” he decides.

“You’re sweet,” she says, “but you don’t know me.”

Leon’s hand rests on hers. “I would like to.”

“Everyone says that, until they do,” says Lianna, not fighting it, their fingers curling together, “It’s been a week. I know my intrigue and mystery really have you going, champ, but you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”

He hums, squeezing her fingers gently between his. He studies the way her jugular flutters on her throat, beneath the crescent moon of a pale white scar. It moves faster when she alludes to her past, which must be awfully dark and tragic with how carefully she’s guarding it. It makes his chest ache with want to protect her from whatever that dark thing was. Not that she needs his protection: she’s proven herself to be a perfectly capable trainer, strong enough to fell even Raihan, widely regarded as the second-to-strongest trainer in all of Galar.

Lianna touches the scar on her throat. “You’re staring.”

“I’m sorry,” he says quickly, “I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s fine,” she quietens him, squeezing his hand gently, “It’s...almost flattering, being stared at by someone like you.”

He frowns. “Someone like a champion?”

“No, someone like you,” she says, “Someone earnest.”

Leon smiles, nuzzles his face right up against her cheek, and rests his head on hers. She smiles, too, and doesn’t fight it, but she doesn’t nestle back against him, either. She knows it’s happening too fast, too soon, much too fast, but she can’t find it in herself to hate it the way she usually does when people try to get close. If Leon likes her, it isn’t because she’s hot, although that might have some small part in it. Even in a week, she knows him to not be that shallow, especially with the many attractive women she’s seen across Galar already.

“Because you’re sweet and I’m having a good time,” Lianna says, before she regrets it, “I’ll answer one question. Anything you want to know.”

He laughs, a velvety sound, and nestles right up to her nape with his chin on her bare shoulder. Here, he notices another scar, trailing underneath the hem of her sweater. “Alright. What other Pokemon do you have back home?”

She snorts, “That’s what you wanna know?”

“There’s a lot I want to know about you,” he says, “but I want you to tell me in your own time, if you tell me at all. I don’t want you to feel like you have to.”

Smiling, Lianna leans into his shoulder, then tells him, “I have a Mightyena named Asher, and a Breloom named Autumn, and a Swampert named Rudy. I have a Camerupt, too, he was a gift from my dad, back when he was just a little Numel. His name’s Everette. There are others, too, from when I went through Kalos. It’s quite the menagerie.”

“Sounds like it,” he hums, “You’ve seen more regions than I have. When the other champions challenge me, they usually come here, since Galar has such high-class stadiums and all. Better for the telly, I guess.”

“I’ve never seen one of your matches until today,” she says.

“Did you enjoy it?”

“Well, as much as I could. It wasn’t easy, watching my best friend lose like that. Rosa’s like a sister to me. I wanted her to win.”

“I understand, I would feel the same way if it was Hop.”

“Thanks for understanding. You battle beautifully.”

“Thank you,” he says, nostrils twitching as he detects the smell of her shampoo on her neck, sweet and floral and feminine, “Since you’re staying for the gym challenge next month, will you watch my championship match?”

“Of course I will, champ,” she reassures him, “You want me to say I’m gonna cheer for you?”

“Will you?”

“You know I will.”

“I’m guessing I won’t see you much after this,” she muses, “Rosa says the gym challenge starts in two weeks. You’ll be busy, I imagine.”

“I will,” he says, “But, can I have your number, anyways?”

“What for?” she asks, like she doesn’t already know, “In case you get lonely?”

“I would never use you like that,” he protests.

“It isn’t using somebody if that somebody agrees to it.”

“I know. But I think too highly of you for that.”

“Do you think less of me because I’ve done it before?”

“Of course not.” He nuzzles her ear again. She blushes. “I wanted your number, so I could call you and take you out for dinner somewhere one night. Unless that’s weird.”

She smiles. “You’re hopeless, champ. I already told you I’m nothing but trouble. But…”

“But?”

“I would like that.”

His eyes brighten, but, as the night wears on, he decides that he should be getting back to the bar to check on Piers and an unfortunately drunk Raihan. He would have missed his turn onto the street the bar is on, but Lianna catches him by the arm and redirects him. “Wrong way, champ.”

“You’re better at this than I am,” he chuckles.

“How are you so bad with directions?” she asks, frankly baffled, as she escorts him back inside. The bouncer doesn’t bother stopping her when she’s on Leon’s arm.

“Family curse, I suppose,” Leon laughs, bringing her back to the table to reunite with Piers, who is nibbling on cold chips, and Raihan, who is...attempting to chew his boyfriend’s ear off? The love nibble that might have been seductive in his alcohol-addled mind wasn’t nearly as appealing with his slobbery lips wrapped around four of Piers’ sterling silver piercings, and yet Piers is purring like a kitten in response. Love makes you blind, Lianna thinks, and rummages through her clutch for her Rotom phone to check the time. Nearly midnight.

“I should head back,” she says, “I doubt Rosa’s expecting me, but I don’t want to give her a reason to worry, anyways.”

“Aww, you’re no fun,” Raihan mutters, head plopping down on Piers’ shoulder, “Piersy, tell ‘er she’s no fun.”

“It was fun, Lianna. Pleasure meeting you,” Piers says instead, cheersing her with what remains of a mixed cocktail with a bloated cherry floating in it.

“You, too,” she says, then turns to Leon, tangling both of his hands with hers, “It was fun. We should do it again sometime. Thanks for a great time.”

“We should,” he agrees, “I would offer to walk you back, but we both know how that would end.”

She laughs, standing on her tippy-toes to reach his cheek for a quick peck. “Yeah, we do. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” he says, cheeks warm from the kiss, glancing down when he feels her slipping something into his palm and curling his fingers closed around it: a slip of paper. She presses a finger to her soft smile in a silent gesture for him to be quiet about it, then turns to leave. He smiles, slipping back into the booth and grimacing slightly when he hears Raihan suckling wetly on Piers’ much abused earlobe. His focus isn’t on them, though, golden gaze following Lianna through the dwindling late night crowds. She stops at the bar briefly, then vanishes out the door into the quiet warmth of the night.


	9. Chapter 9

Rosa is sitting in her eternally unmade hotel bed, channel-flipping idly with the lights off, when Lianna stumbles in a little before 1AM, carrying a styrofoam to-go box.

“Gotta admit, wasn’t expecting you back tonight,” Rosa comments while Lianna puts her things down, freeing Stickybun from her Pokeball. The Goomy hisses at her, adamantly voicing her displeasure at having been in gay baby jail for longer than an hour.

Lianna offers her the to-go box and a paper-wrapped straw. “Here.”

“What’s this?” Rosa asks, opening the box and cursing when a surge of liquid splashes out of it, dappling the hotel sheets bright red.

“The damn bar wouldn’t let me have a to-go cup for anything with alcohol in it,” Lianna says, grinning wittily, “So, I improvised.”

Begrudgingly, Rosa opens her straw and starts to sip at the lukewarm liquid, which quickly loses its appeal at this time of the night. “So, how did it go?”

Lianna shrugs. “I would say it went well. We had a drink, went for a walk. Raihan got drunk.”

“So I’ve gathered, from the many gratuitous beauty shots of Piers he’s been posting on Pokegram for the past two hours,” Rosa remarks, balancing the to-go box full of alcohol precariously as she rises to pour it down the sink, “Chairman Rose called. He’s going to move us to a rental home on Monday, so we’ll have a kitchen to cook in or whatever. Since we’re going to be extending our stay, he said.”

Lianna answers with another disinterested shrug, stripping out of her sweater dress and leggings as she heads for the shower. “Say,” she calls over the patter of the water as she starts it, “How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine,” Rosa flubs.

“Doesn’t sound too convincing,” Lianna replies as she steps into the spray, while Rosa sits on the faux marble countertop just outside the door to the cramped little hotel bathroom, “Are you sure you’re really okay?”

“No,” Rosa says, “but I’ll get over it. I have to.”

“Mmm,” Lianna muses, “Leon said he was sorry he upset you. Poor bloke was all out of sorts about it at the bar.”

Rosa laughs dryly. “Did he apologize to me before or after you sucked his dick?”

“I’m sorry to report that there was no dick-sucking tonight,” Lianna replies from the shower, lathering up her burgundy hair with hotel-issued free shampoo, “Just one kiss on the cheek and a bit of dancing. And he asked me out on a date. Ain’t that something?”

“Ooh, he’s going to give you a champion time,” Rosa teases.

“Don’t think you’re going to get out of talking about your feelings by distracting me with kiss and tell, Rosa,” Lianna remarks, “You’re not bottling anything up on my watch.”

Rosa shrugs even though Lianna can’t see her through the shower curtain. “We’ll talk about it later. I’m not really in the mood right now.”

“Whenever you’re ready,” Lianna concedes, rinsing conditioner out of her hair and turning the water off, “Will you grab my pajamas?”

“Sure thing,” Rosa says, going to fetch them. A few minutes later, Lianna is dressed and toweling her hair off, then slipping into bed while Stickybun verbally assaults her for locking her up in her Pokeball half the night, quietening only when Lianna scoops her up and hugs her, shushing her softly.

“I missed you, too, y’know,” she says, gently squeezing the slimeball, “But, Pokemon aren’t allowed in clubs. You don’t even like dancing.”

“Goomy, Goom!”

“She says fuck you, she’s a great dancer,” Rosa laughs from her own bed, flipping the TV off after a few moments more, “We should get some sleep. It’s late.”

“That’s right, Sticky, you’re up past your bedtime,” Lianna says, laying her glasses on the nightstand and switching the lamp off, “G’night, Rosa. And hey, that really was a great battle today. I’m not just saying that because I’m your friend, either. You’re a champion trainer.”

“Thanks, Lee,” Rosa muses, then laughs, “But, I’m not the champion of your heart.”

“Nobody is,” Lianna reminds her.

“Goom, Goom!”

“Sticky is,” Lianna corrects herself.

“Oh, whatever,” Rosa laughs. Lianna throws a spare pillow at her through the darkness and misses by several feet, effectively blind without her glasses even without the lack of light. Rosa only laughs again, then sighs into her pillow, “G’night, Lee. Love you.”

“Love you, too, Rosa.”

“Goomy!”

“Love you, too, Sticky.”

* * *

Monday arrives. Lianna and Rosa move into a rental home on the outskirts of Wyndon, where the bitter chill is a bit milder. It’s a quaint place, charming in its own right, like something out of a staged photograph in a magazine. There’s a fenced-in backyard, where their Pokemon are free to roam, complete with a tire swing hanging from a single bare-branched, snow-covered tree for them to play on. Things are mostly quiet for them now, with Chairman Rose occasionally phoning Rosa to meet him about one thing or another or for her opinion on something the league has planned for the gym challenge that coming month. But, mostly, nothing happens. Lianna visits town, prepares meals with Rosa, plays with her Pokemon. It’s uneventful and domestic, precisely the way she prefers it.

It’s Friday. Rosa is outside playing frisbee with her Lycanroc, while Popsicle observes them from the sloppily made snow fort Lianna built him in the corner of the yard earlier that week. Lianna is inside, slicing vegetables and berries for tonight’s dinner with Stickybun sitting in a basket on the countertop alongside her, commentating occasionally, when her Rotom phone whizzes to life on the table and vibrates with a notification.

Lianna sets the knife down and wipes her hands on a dish towel, then checks her phone, which is levitating across from her excitably. It’s from Leon.

> _ Hey, you. <3 _

She smiles, while Stickybun croons at her inquisitively, reaching for the phone to send a response.

> _ Hey, what’s up? _

Stickybun chirrups demandingly and Lianna laughs, petting her. “It’s Leon. Don’t worry,” she says, when her phone vibrates again.

> _ You free tomorrow afternoon? _
> 
> _ I am. _
> 
> _ Wanna meet me at the stadium around noon? _
> 
> _ Are you asking me for a date or a rematch? _
> 
> _ Haha, we might have time for both. _
> 
> _ Deal. See you then, champ. _
> 
> _ Can’t wait. <3 _

Something about the casually placed less-than-three makes Lianna’s cheeks burn. Leon is  _ into  _ her, actually into her, and not in the way that people usually are. Something about it feels surreal, the thought that someone might be interested in her beyond a one-night stand or casual booty call, but she doesn’t hate it, either. Whatever it is, it’s irrational and ill-founded, Lianna reminds herself. She’ll be back in Alola in a month and Leon will have forgotten about her in two. The most it can end in is a quick fling, either back at his flat or maybe right up against the lockers in one of the changing rooms at the stadium, and yet she continues to entertain it.

Stickybun interrupts her train of thought with a, “Goom, Goom!”

Smiling, Lianna strokes her between the antennae. “Leon’s asking me out on a date. What do you think, Sticky?”

“Goom!” the little slimeball says enthusiastically.

“You’re right, one date won’t hurt, I guess,” she concedes, but one hand traces along the shape of the crescent moon scar on the side of her throat absentmindedly. A reminder. A warning.

Stickybun slithers out of her basket. “Goom!”

“Of course I’m bringing you with me,” Lianna reassures her, “We’re a package deal, remember? Leon has to take us both.”

Sticky makes her way to the countertop’s edge, where Lianna reaches down and picks her up, hugging her tightly to her chest for reassure. The Goomy purrs, nuzzling underneath her trainer’s chin, her skin feeling slimy-soft and slightly damp.

“I know I shouldn’t worry,” Lianna tells her, “This is Leon. This isn’t...you know.”

“Goom.”

“You’re right, it  _ will _ be fun,” Lianna agrees, hugging Stickybun tightly, “You know, for a slime ball, you give pretty good advice, Sticky.”

Sticky puffs up proudly and remarks agreeably, “Goomy, Goom.”

The following morning, Lianna showers and throws on a bathrobe while she brushes her hair into what she hopes are more attractive and less “Archie beset Kyogre on Hoenn again” waves. She dresses casually, going for something between warm and cold weather clothing, uncertain of their destination, with a jacket she can easily remove in the event that she’s too warm - not that it happens often, with the lack of iron in her blood. Her favorite snapback - the white one with the purple brim, with a cartoony image of a Goomy emblazoned on the front - completes the look, hiding an unagreeable bit of hair on the back of her head.

Rosa is in the kitchen preparing herself a sandwich for lunch, while Popsicle inches towards the open package of sandwich meat on the countertop when she isn’t looking. She doesn’t look up when Lianna comes in, but smiles and comments, “You off to meet Leon for your date?”

“Mhmm,” Lianna hums, tucking her phone into her satchel and bending double to pick Sticky up off the floor, where she’s melted into a sleepy heap by the oven. She grumbles when her trainer disturbs her, before oozing comfortably into her arms to resume her impromptu nap. “Where’s Kaizen?”

“She’s out back,” Rosa says, “You plannin’ on a battle?”

Lianna shrugs. “It could happen.”

“Interesting method of foreplay,” Rosa remarks, finishing her sandwich and realizing that the rest of the lunch meat has vanished from the package, “Hey! Popsicle!”

Lianna promptly removes her Snom from the counter, placing him on the floor gently. Popsicle rams her in the ankle in displeasure. “What’s he doing on the counter, anyways?”

“He likes to feel tall,” Rosa says through a mouthful of sandwich, “Anyways, have fun on your date.”

“I will,” Lianna replies, slipping into the backyard to collect Kaizen in her Pokeball before she leaves through the gate, quickly seeing herself back into town. Wyndon is bustling on this Saturday afternoon, despite the bitter chill and the freshly fallen snow accumulating on the sides of the recently salted sidewalks, and it takes her awhile to reach the stadium. The double-doors are unlocked, employees busily cleaning and decorating for the upcoming gym challenge, and she’s surprised to see Leon already waiting for her, fiddling with his phone in one of the lobby’s cushy red chairs.

Stickybun announces them with an exclamation of, “Goomy, Goom!”

Leon turns in his seat, instantly smiling. “Lianna. Hello.”

“Hey, champ,” she says, immediately plopping Stickybun down in his lap. He accepts her readily, scratching between her antennae until she coos. “Whoa, you’re not wearing your uniform. That’s a first.”

“Of course not,” Leon laughs, snuggling Stickybun underneath his chin, she isn’t as slimy when she likes somebody, “It wouldn’t be very appropriate to wear on a  _ date.” _

“It isn’t very appropriate to wear to a bar, either, but you had it on there the other night,” she reminds him, to which he chuckles.

“Didn’t wanna go all the way home and change, give me a break, Lee,” he says as he rises, cradling Sticky in the crease of one elbow, “So, I thought we might head down to the wild area for the day. I know it isn’t the most romantic venue, but…” He gestures to the employees eying them curiously from around the lobby, ready to talk as soon as they’ve vacated the premises. “I thought it might give us some privacy.”

Lianna smiles. “It’s perfect.”

Stickybun is clinging precariously to Leon’s arm as he shoulders a sizable backpack, outfitted with what looks like camping gear. Lianna cocks a brow at that, privately wondering if Leon  _ does  _ have ulterior motives for a moment before she realizes he would probably just invite her back to his flat if that were the case, following him outside with her own satchel crisscrossed over her body. She returns a protesting Sticky to her Pokeball while Leon frees his Charizard and mounts it. Lianna slides onto its back to sit in front of him, not at all alarmed this time when his arms slide around her.

Leon’s Charizard doesn’t falter at all when it flies, not even beneath the weight of two fully grown people. Lianna can feel the muscles in its back pulsating with each flap of its sizable wings, tendons tensing beneath smooth scaled skin. It feels warm to the touch, pleasantly so in the bitter cold of Wyndon, which soon morphs into fairer weather as Charizard flies them over Galar. Leon’s chin comes down on her shoulder, the one her oversized sweater hangs off, his stubble prickling against her bare skin. She glances down at him with a smile and allows herself the simple luxury of pressing her cheek close against his, returning the gesture.

Charizard alights in the wild area and Leon slides off its back, Lianna stumbling ungracefully off of the fire dragon behind him. “Thanks for the ride, mate,” Leon says, appreciatively scratching underneath his Pokemon’s chin with one hand and between its horns with the other. Charizard croons beneath his touch and squeezes its eyes closed in satisfaction, opening them again only when Leon’s hands are pulling away. It watches as Leon walks to Lianna’s side, backpack slung over one shoulder, his free hand rested on lower back.

“He’s beautiful,” Lianna comments as she studies the dragon, eyes mapping the shapes of the many faded scars that color Charizard’s skin, “He’s been in a lot of battles, and I’m guessing he’s never lost a single one.”

“Never,” Leon says, “He’s been with me since day one. If not for Charizard, I might never have become champion.”

“It’s half the trainer, half the Pokemon,” Lianna agrees. Leon’s hand strays from her back, fingers tentatively brushing against hers. She smiles and allows herself to take his hand, their fingers meshing together easily, fitting together like a lock fits a key. She can feel his Charizard watching her almost warily, but she understands: Leon is champion, coveted worldwide, many people have probably wrongly tried to get close to him for their own selfish purposes. It tugs at her heartstrings just thinking about it.

“C’mon,” Leon finally says, starting to walk, “There’s somewhere I wanna show you.”

Charizard follows behind them as Leon walks her down a gently sloping hillside, further into the wild area. Lianna is suddenly grateful she thought to wear athletic sneakers when the terrain turns rougher and rockier, Leon’s fingers parting from hers to help her along as needed. There’s rough terrain in Hoenn, too, and certainly in the inner sectors of Alola, but she appreciates the help, regardless. But, soon, the rough rocky terrain turns smoother, the ridge they’ve crossed giving way to a hidden oasis, steeply sloping grassy hillsides spiraling downwards into a crystalline water hole surrounded by ferns.

“It’s beautiful here,” Leon says, dropping his backpack and settling down on the grassy slope, “But, even better, it isn’t full of reporters and paparazzi. We’re alone here. Just us.”

Charizard runs down the hill behind them, to flop down in the wildflowers below, growling softly.

“Just us and Charizard,” Leon corrects himself, “and Sticky, too. I know she doesn’t like to be in her Pokeball for long.”

“She hates it,” Lianna says, rummaging through her bag for Stickybun’s Pokeball. The Goomy solidifies from the beam of light a moment later, immediately voicing her displeasure. “I know, I know, I’m sorry.”

Pouting, Stickybun sinks into the grass, grumbling away. Leon laughs, batting his head up against Lianna’s gently. “Sorry I can’t bring you somewhere nicer than this. I know it’s nothing fancy or terribly romantic, but…”

“Shush, I like it here,” she protests, “Besides, I wouldn’t have known what to do with myself if you invited me to some fancy uptight restaurant or something.”

“As much as I would love to treat you,” he remarks, his hand finding hers once more, “I can’t stand places like that myself. And it’s hard to take anybody anywhere without getting swamped by people wanting autographs and photos.”

“Such is the life of the champion,” Lianna chuckles as she leans against his shoulder, “I don’t miss that. I don’t miss any of it.”

He glances at her from the corner of his eye. “Not even the battles?”

“I love to battle,” she says, “but no, because I didn’t like always being the person who had to crush some poor kid’s dreams by defeating them in battle. What’s with twelve-year-olds and trying to challenge the champion, anyways? I was almost seventeen when I became champ back in Hoenn.”

“You would’ve been up against Steven, then,” he muses, “He became champion again shortly after that. I remember.

“I thought I wanted to be champion,” says Lianna, “Turns out, I didn’t. So, I told him to come take back what was rightfully his. He was a better champ than I ever could’ve been, anyways. It suits him, same way it suits you.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” he challenges her, “You’re one hell of a trainer.

“Being a good trainer doesn’t automatically make you a good champ,” she protests, “Champions are public icons. They’re an inspiration to everyone. And I...couldn’t be that for Hoenn. It didn’t suit me. So, I’ll leave the championships to the real champs. Like you.”

She can feel that honey-golden gaze on her, studying her, watching the way her pulse beats faster whenever this subject comes up, following the shapes of the scars over her skin. She had thought those scars had faded long ago, no longer visible on her skin, but with Leon, she feels them bubbling right back up to the surface, reminders of why she’s hesitating, why she’s afraid, why she can’t possibly be with him, even though he’s every bit the sweet, kind Prince Charming her younger self would have hoped for.

“Lianna,” he says, slowly bringing her hand up to his lips, to kiss her knuckles tenderly, “What really happened? You don’t have to tell me, but...even when you say all this, I know you’re lying. I know you really did want this.”

Lianna hesitates. Leon squeezes both of her hands, gingerly kissing along her knuckles, stopping on the one that’s marred with a thick white scar. “C’mon, baby,” he whispers, “I wanna know who did this to you.”

“Leon, I’m sorry,” she murmurs, slowly pulling her hands away to fold them in her lap instead, a breath shuddering through her lips, “I don’t...I don’t really do  _ this _ . I’ve never been on a date, not even once. I’ve never...told someone like you, about all of that.”

“It’s okay,” he says, and his voice is smooth like silk and every bit as soothing, “I’m here to listen. And I promise you, Lee, you can trust me.”

“I know I can,” she whispers, not realizing her fingernails are digging half-moons into her thighs through her leggings until he reaches down and gently pries them away, “It’s me I don’t trust.”

Stickybun senses trouble, slithering towards her trainer with a concerned coo. Lianna sniffles as her Goomy climbs into her lap, wrapping a hand around the familiar sticky-cool of her body.

Leon’s fingers brush her cheek, drying a tear she didn’t realize had fallen. “Don’t worry about it, Lee. We can talk about it another time,” he says, “I’m...I’m really sorry, I shouldn’t have pried like that. This is a  _ date _ . You’re supposed to be having fun. Arceus, I’m shit.”

“Don’t talk about yourself that way,” she objects, “I just...I’m afraid.”

“What are you afraid of?” he asks, cupping her cheeks, drying her tears. She knows her mascara must be smudging and her nose must be running and she must look like a mess. “Are you afraid of me?”

“No!” Lianna protests, “You’re...not the problem. I am. I’m afraid that, if I let you see those parts of me, you won’t...want to be around me anymore. And I’m even more afraid that you  _ will _ .”

Leon rummages through his pocket for a handkerchief, carefully dabbing around her eyes when he finds it, his voice as gentle as his touch, “Whatever it is, I promise I won’t think less of you, Lee. You’re a good person. I know it.”

Lianna sniffles. “I’m sorry for crying.”

“I’m sorry for upsetting you. Some date this is,” he says, always so earnest, “Do you want me to take you back?”

“No,” Lianna protests softly, snatching the handkerchief from him to dry her eyes, before she slides right up against him, “There’s nothing I would rather do right now than lie right here with you, okay? And that’s what I’m afraid of.”

Leon smiles, slowly guiding them both down until he’s on his back in the grass, an arm around her as she nestles right up against his chest, which looks oh-so-good in a tight-fitting tee shirt, warm beneath her cheek. “Then, we can stay right here.”

“What gives you the right to be so perfect?” she says like an accusation, “It isn’t fair that you’re so genuine, so kind, so real.”

“What would you rather I be like, hmm?” he asks.

She presses closer. She’s clinging, she knows she’s clinging, but she can’t stay away, feeling perfectly, criminally at home right here with him, the way she feels nowhere else. “I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

Leon holds her for awhile. It’s cool here, the sun’s beams shining on the opposite side of the ridge, and the warmth between them is welcome. Charizard is asleep in the grass nearby, while Stickybun chews on a bit of moss at the pond’s edge. After awhile, he stretches and smiles when he sees her open an eye to look at him. “Are you hungry, love?”

The pet name shoots her straight through the heart. She blushes, eyes flitting away.  _ Since when are you shy? _ she asks herself and both likes and hates the answer. “I am.”

“Why don’t we let our Pokemon out and let them run and play while we make some curry?” he suggests, slowly sitting up, bringing her with him. There’s a red mark on the side of her face where she laid on a crease in his shirt, making him smile. “It’s a Galarian tradition to make curry when you visit the wild area. I thought...I would like to share that. With you.”

“You’re too cute,” Lianna giggles. He’s relieved to hear her laughter again. “Sure, I would love that.”

Leon is getting his things from his backpack when Lianna pipes up again, still seated with her knees pulled up to her chest, “And Leon?”

“Hmm?” he hums, spreading a blanket out on the hillside to lay out his cooking supplies.

“I’m so sorry you had to see that.”

He looks at her, frowning, then he’s cupping her jaw, stooping, and kissing her forehead before he realizes he’s moved. “Don’t apologize.”

Lianna sits there and stares at the horizon, shocked. A chaste peck on the cheek at the bar had been one thing, but a kiss on the forehead felt more...intimate, romantic. This is no longer a casual ordeal, she realizes with a start, and she’s already in too deep.

But, she doesn’t hate it.

“But...I ruined our date,” she says meekly when she finds her voice.

“You didn’t,” Leon insists, then fixes her with a smile, “And besides, the day’s still young. We still have plenty of time to save it.”

Lianna smiles, then stands to help him set up the makeshift fireplace, arranging stray stones from the pondside in an uneven circle. “You’re too sweet for your own good, you know that, champ? I’ve already told you, I’m nothing but trouble.”

“I’ll take my chances,” he says, carrying the cooking pot down to the pondside. She admires how easily he lifts the sizable cauldron even after it’s filled three-quarters of the way with water, placing it over their lopsided campfire before calling Charizard over to light it. He slices vegetables and berries as deftly as he battles, directly into the hot water, before rummaging through his backpack for his Pokeballs to free the rest of his team. Lianna isn’t surprised to see that it’s beautifully competitively balanced, releasing Kaizen to mingle among them while the curry simmers over the fire.

“Where are the others?” Leon asks, lounging on the blanket as he watches the curry cook idly.

Lianna is standing nearby, keeping an eye on Sticky as she splashes in the shallows of the pond with a wild Pyukumuku. “Back at the rental home with Rosa. I would have brought them, if I knew we were coming to the wild area.”

“Sorry,” Leon chuckles, “I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“It was a good surprise,” says Lianna, planting her hands on his shoulders from behind, working them in slow deliberate circles to feel the muscle and tendon underneath, “It’s beautiful here. Really. Nothing in Hoenn or even Alola compares.”

“Quite the compliment,” he muses, stirring the curry, “Alola’s a beautiful place.”

“It is, but it isn’t home.”

“Where’s home?”

“Hoenn, but I’m from Kanto originally,” she tells him, “That’s where I was born, but Hoenn feels more like home. That’s where I met my dad. That’s where I really figured things out.”

“Then, why leave?”

Lianna laughs. “Champ, haven’t I broken down in tears on you enough for one day?” 

“Sorry,” he says meekly, then sighs happily when her fingers work into a particularly sore spot between his shoulder blades, “Feels good.”

A few minutes more and Leon is reluctantly abandoning her massaging fingers to spoon the curry into multi-colored dishes, in varying states of wear, many chipped and cracked at the rim, and distributing them to their Pokemon, before he prepares two plates for him and Lianna, drizzling curry over rice. Lianna thanks him as she takes her plate, sitting down beside him.

“Must be pretty good,” Lianna muses as she watches Stickybun dive face-first into her bowl, before sampling it with a plastic fork, “Mmm...not bad, champ. Really unfair that you’re a good cook on top of everything else.”

Leon chuckles, eating quietly. When he’s finished, he sets his dirty plate aside, glancing over to see Lianna polishing off the last of her meal while Sticky is melting into the grass contently, in the early stages of a food coma. Below them, Kaizen has finished her food and is challenging Leon’s Dragapult to a race. He’s watching their Pokemon contently when he feels Lianna’s head on his shoulder, smiling absentmindedly, reclining his head on top of hers.

“Hey, Lee?” he prompts.

“Hmm?”

“Do you wanna do this again sometime?” he asks.

She smiles, cracking an eye open to peer up at him. “I would love to.”

“I’m going home to Postwick on Monday,” he hums, “Giving Hop his starter and an endorsement letter to participate in the gym challenge this year. He’s gonna be stoked.”

“Watch out, champ,” she chuckles, “Your baby brother’s coming for you.”

“If he does,” Leon laughs, “I’ll be ready. And very, very proud.”

“I’ve already beaten your final gym leader,” Lianna says teasingly, “Does that mean I can skip straight to challenging the champion?”

“If you like,” he murmurs, closing his eyes, “But, you’ve already won.”

She snorts. “No, I didn’t. You wiped the floor with me.”

“Mmm, not what I meant.”

“Alright, champ, I’ll bite. Hit me with your best cheesy pick-up line. What did I win?”

He cracks an eye open and looks at her, smiling goofily. “A date with the champion.”

She knocks her head into his shoulder a few times, giggling. “Goofball. But...I prefer a date with just Leon.”

“I know you do,” he says, hand quickly finding hers for a squeeze, “That’s part of why I enjoy your company so much. And when I’m back from Postwick...I would like to enjoy it a little more, before the gym challenge starts keeping me really busy.”

“I’ve never even been on a date before,” Lianna muses, “and here you are asking me for a second one, even after I cried on you.”

“I’ll be here for you to cry to anytime you like, whether there’s another date or not,” he tells her, smiling faintly, “But, next time...maybe I will take you to some stuffy restaurant. I can’t have the press thinking I only take my girl out to the wild area to feed her crummy curry. I have a reputation as a mysterious romantic to maintain.”

Lianna laughs. “Romantic? Maybe. Mysterious? No.”

“What, I’m not mysterious? No dark, tragic past to woo you with?” he chuckles, “No, I suppose not, but I would...like to take you on a proper date. If you’re okay with that.”

“You haven’t run away screaming yet,” she replies, smiling against his shoulder, “So, I would love to do this again sometime. On a proper date.”

Leon smiles, too. “That’s my girl.”

Lianna is quiet, heart thrumming away softly in her chest. His girl. Leon’s girl. She tells herself that this isn’t right, that this is moving entirely too fast, that he inevitably  _ will  _ “run away screaming,” as she put it, when he realizes that she really is nothing but trouble.

But, she still can’t find it in herself to hate it.

Maybe, a softer voice in her mind says, she’s even started to like it. 


	10. Chapter 10

The sunset in the wild area is the most beautiful Lianna has ever seen, even prettier than those on the beaches in Alola, with their colors smeared across the rippling evening waves, sparkling in the twinkling light as the sun slips beneath the horizon. The pond where Stickybun has passed the afternoon playing sparkles orange and pink and yellow as the sun dips lower in the sky, streaked with all the colors of the fading light as she sits with her head on Leon’s shoulder and their fingers intertwined.

She looks at him and sees those same colors reflected in his eyes. Beautiful, like him. There’s a smile in those honey-golden eyes unlike any she’s ever seen before. No one has ever looked at her like this, not even once. It’s strange, but she can’t find it in herself to hate it, the way something in the back of her mind knows that she should. She’ll be back in Alola in a month’s time - and then what? Leon will forget about her, that’s what. He has no reason not to, after all, she reminds herself bitterly, in the part of her mind that is dark and cruel and hates the mere suggestion that, perhaps, just perhaps, he cares about her.

“Getting late,” Leon hums after awhile, “We should head back, the trail’s harder to navigate in the dark. But…”

Lianna raises a brow behind glasses lenses gone yellow with the sunset. “But?”

“But I wish I could just stay out here all night,” he says, then adds, more quietly, “with you.”

“You know, champ,” she muses, “that doesn’t sound half bad.”

Reluctantly, Leon rises and stretches, stiff legs cramping in objection after being tucked underneath him for so many hours on end. Lianna stands beside him, helping him repack his cooking supplies, now dirty, before she returns her Manectric to her Pokeball and steps down to the pondside to retrieve Stickybun from the shallows. The Goomy squawks in protest, but she only giggles, returning to Leon as he returns all of his team members but Charizard, shoulders his backpack, and leads her home.

* * *

When Charizard alights outside the Wyndon Stadium, Lianna bids Leon farewell, promises to see him again soon, and kisses him on the cheek. She feels strangely aflutter and curses herself the entire walk back to the rental home for feeling that way. Part of herself reminds her with every step that this can’t happen, that this can’t possibly work, and that she shouldn’t want it to. But, the other part of herself whispers reassuringly that she does and, for once, maybe that’s okay.

Lianna tries to slip in quietly, but Rosa is waiting for her on the sofa and wastes no time in pouncing on her with a, “So, how did it go?”

“Well,” Lianna answers simply, dropping her bag off by the door before she sits beside her, Stickybun crooning in her arms. She takes a moment to free Kaizen from her Pokeball, the Manectric immediately occupying herself with the makeshift bed set up for her by the blazing fireplace, keeping them warm through the Wyndon chill.

“Just ‘well?’ C’mon, Lee, give me the play-by-play, what happened?” Rosa teases, grinning idly up from her phone, paying half-attention to Lianna and half-attention to Pokegram.

Lianna chews at her lower lip. “We went to the wild area and had a picnic. Leon made us curry, we talked Pokemon for awhile, Sticky went swimming. It was a lot of fun.”

Rosa scoffs, “Is that all?”

“Oh, and he asked me out on another date,” Lianna adds.

“Ooh, a second date,” Rosa teases, nudging Lianna pointedly with her foot, before Lianna swats it away, “You guys are getting  _ serious _ .”

“We are not,” Lianna protests, “Don’t make me put Sticky on you again.”

“Goomy, Goo!”

“See? That was a threat, Rosa.”

“Sure it was,” Rosa remarks, “But, it sounds like he likes you. A lot. Pretty impressive, Lee, you’ve been here two weeks and already netted yourself the regional champion. The  _ world  _ champion, no less.”

“We’re not together,” Lianna replies.

Rosa glances back down at her phone, scrolling. “Do you wanna be? I mean, with Leon?”

No response.

Rosa looks up. Lianna is looking at her with that unmistakable intensity in her eyes, sublime to shame, and she realizes in an instant that yes, Lianna  _ does  _ want that. “Oh,” she says, barely above a whisper, “Oh, shit.”

Lianna’s gaze shifts away fleetingly. “Yeah.”

“You’re serious?” Rosa gawks, “Lee, this isn’t like you. You’re...not the type to fall for somebody. I’ve never even heard you mention a crush, in all the time I’ve known you.”

“And you know exactly why,” Lianna laments, “I...don’t know if I can do this.”

“You can,” Rosa says, “and you should, Lee. You can’t run from it forever. You want to be happy, don’t you? I mean, happy with someone else, not just by yourself?”

“I thought I wanted that when I was a child,” Lianna replies, rather coldly, habitually fingering the crescent moon scar on her throat, “and look where it got me.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Lee. You deserve to give yourself a second chance,” Rosa says, putting her phone aside, “And Leon’s as good a person as any to try again with.”

Lianna considers it. Leon  _ is  _ an especially remarkable person, there would be no one better for her to try to make the shape of love with again, if not for the fact that he was the reigning world champion, obviously very busy, and from a region that she would be leaving forever in a little over a month. And yet, the softer, kinder faction of her mind says, that isn’t enough to stop you from wanting it. That isn’t enough to stop you from agreeing to a second date.

“Lianna,” Rosa says, dragging her from her thoughts, “You deserve a chance to try again. Even if it doesn’t work out, it could just...y’know, be fun.”

Lianna frowns. “I...I don’t know.”

“C’mon, Lee. Don’t be so stubborn.”

“I’m not -,” Lianna begins, then realizes she’s right, frowning again, “You know I get it honest. My dad’s the same way.”

“Yeah, and it kept him from the love of his life until they were both pushing fifty,” Rosa remarks, laughing softly, “Speaking of which, have you told them about this? About Leon?”

“Oh, hell no,” Lianna protests, “No offense, Rosa, but have you  _ met  _ my dad? And Archie? Archie would be on the first boat over here to give the poor guy some kind of stern dad talk the moment he found out! That’s assuming my dad didn’t get to him first!”

Rosa nods, finally in agreement. “Yeah, your dads are a little intimidating. Maybe work up to it.”

“I love them, but...you know how they are, after the...the incident,” Lianna says, already rubbing her temples at the mere mention of the potential exchange, “They’re protective.”

“I get it,” Rosa replies, “But, they also want you to be happy. The real protective one here is you. Let those walls down a bit, babe. Let Leon get to know you.”

“I have been,” Lianna says defensively.

“Oh, yeah? What all have you told him?”

Lianna considers it. “He knows I used to be a champion.”

“Well, that’s admittedly farther than you’ve ever gotten with someone else,” Rosa chuckles, “But that’s not saying much, considering you matched with them on Fletchinder, had sex with them, then blocked all their numbers an hour later. Besides, I meant, like...does he know your favorite color? What kind of music you like? Let him get to know  _ you _ , not just all the bad shit that’s happened to you in the past. You’re you. Not your trauma.”

“You’re right,” Lianna admits begrudgingly, Stickybun cooing in agreement in her lap.

Rosa laughs, grinning cheekily as she watches Lianna stand, carrying Stickybun in her arms like a ragdoll, the way she always does. “I usually am.”

Lianna gives her a sharp look as she walks off towards her bedroom. “Shut it.”

Rosa’s Mightyena cackling fades into the background as Lianna walks down the hallway to her borrowed bedroom, slipping inside and shutting the door behind her - not that Rosa would bother her here, but she needed to be alone with her thoughts for a moment. She set Stickybun down on the edge of her neatly made bed, rummaging through her satchel for her Rotom phone. It flickers to life, hovering in front of her with an eager  _ bzzt! _ as she flops down backwards onto the stiff rental mattress, quietly mourning the much softer one she has back home.

She lays there for a moment, Stickybun nuzzling against her armpit for attention while she strokes her slimy head idly, considering her options, her thoughts, her dreaded, horrible, awful feelings. And then, with a sigh, she says, “Rotom, send a message to Leon, please.”

Rotom whirs excitedly, pulling up a message box with Leon’s name and number attached before it levitates into Lianna’s open hand. She wipes Sticky’s slime off on her shorts, sits up just enough to type something, and flops back down after she hits send.

> _ My favorite color is pink. _

Lianna is left in uncomfortable silence with her thoughts for a few minutes, one arm cast over her forehead in immediate regret, before her phone chimes.

> _ Okay? LOL You’re so silly. _
> 
> _ Rosa said I should tell you. If we’re going to...y’know, do this. _
> 
> _ Do what? _

Groaning, Lianna smacks herself mentally. Perhaps she had misread his signals, though there was really no misreading nuzzling up to someone’s neck, kissing them on the cheek, and taking them to the wild area to spend an evening completely alone with only their Pokemon to interrupt them. No, that’s not it. Perhaps Leon is just a bit dense. Or perhaps he wants to hear her say it, to lay it out in her own terms. That’s considerate of him.

> _ If we’re going to be a thing. _

This time, when her phone chimes, she has to swallow hard before she checks it.

> _ You want to be a thing? <3 _
> 
> _ Only casually. For now. _
> 
> _ I’ll take it. <3 _

She mulls this over for a few moments, before she realizes that her cheeks are agonizingly hot and that she’s blushing furiously. Oh, how she wants to hate this. But oh, how she can’t. She’s sunk and she knows it, in too deep, and loving it every step of the way in ways she knows she absolutely shouldn’t.

Her phone chimes again. She lifts her hand to check it.

> _ My favorite color is orange. _

This makes her smile.

> _ Because Charizard. _
> 
> _ Because Charizard. _
> 
> _ You’re so goofy. _
> 
> _ You got me there. <3 _
> 
> _ I’ve gotta get a shower now, champ. Goodnight. _
> 
> _ Goodnight. <3 _

Lianna wasn’t really getting in the shower right away, she just needed to step away from this for a moment to consider what she had just done. She scrolls back up and rereads their conversation, cheeks burning, Stickybun crooning at her almost teasingly. Are she and Leon...together? When she said casually, how casually did she mean? How casually did  _ Leon _ mean? For her, this is already beyond what she considers casual, which was messaging someone vaguely attractive on Fletchinder, meeting up with them at their apartment, and getting her rocks off with them before she fled the scene with her pants still half-down before she blocked them, never to be heard from ever again. It was Arceus’ good graces that she hadn’t run into one of them in public afterwards by now.

She rereads the messages again. She and Leon are a  _ thing _ , and even she’s not sure what she meant when she said  _ thing _ . Is Leon her boyfriend? Does she have a boyfriend? Does she  _ want  _ a boyfriend? Does Leon want to  _ be _ her boyfriend? She has a lot of questions and no real answers, only serving to confuse herself further, until she locks her phone and catches a glimpse of herself in her reflection in the inky blackness. She’s smiling.

She’s smiling.

And suddenly, she has her answer.

* * *

Lianna and Rosa are making cookies - rather poorly, while Rosa’s Lycanroc tries its damnedest to steal a bite of the half-made dough that’s still mostly flour and Popsicle adamantly gets in the way by chewing on Lianna’s ankle and squawking at her for food - on Friday afternoon when Lianna’s phone vibrates on the table. The Rotom comes to life, levitating eagerly as it announces the message.

“Read it, please,” Lianna says without thinking.

“New message! From: Leon!” the Rotom reads, and Rosa’s head turns towards Lianna in the same moment that Lianna regrets it, “It says, ‘Hey, baby, can I call you?’”

“Rotom, send a reply,” Lianna says meekly, already blushing furiously beneath Rosa’s gaze, washing her hands off quickly, “Say, ‘yes.’”

Lianna dries her hands on a kitchen towel and leaves the room before Rosa can start with her, scooping Popsicle up on her way. She retreats to her room with her Rotom phone still levitating around her, sitting down on the bed gently so as not to wake Stickybun, who is napping peacefully on her pillow and getting no shortage of slime on it. Lianna no longer minds; she’s more than used to a little slime after all this time.

Her phone rings - and oh, Arceus, it’s a video call. Lianna remembers her hair is barely balancing on top of her head in a lopsided, sloppy bun right as she presses the answer button and mentally slaps herself for not preparing for this.

Leon’s face appears on the screen. He’s laying on his back in what must be his bed, his signature snapback laying on the pillow beside his head, one arm tucked behind his head as he smiles up at her with a, “Hey, beautiful.” Oh, it’s not fair, how he looks so  _ good  _ so  _ effortlessly _ .

“H-Hey, Leon,” she answers meekly and she curses herself for stuttering. Popsicle adds a ‘snom, snom!’ from her lap and she holds him up, so he can see the call.

Leon laughs. Lianna’s heart thumps, still getting used to the idea that this is  _ her  _ Leon. “Hello to you, too, Popsicle. Lee being good to you? Feeding you lots of snacks?”

“Snom, Snom, Snom!”

“Oh, she’s not? Shame on you, Lee,” Leon chuckles, “Anyways, I was calling to tell you that I’m leaving for Postwick on Sunday. Wanted to see if you’d like to come with me.”

Lianna almost chokes on her own saliva. “To Postwick? Like where your  _ family  _ lives?”

Laughing, Leon smiles back at her good-naturedly. “Yeah, but you wouldn’t have to meet them, if you didn’t want to. Just thought you might enjoy the trip. And besides...I’ll be lonely without you,” he says, punctuating his final remark with a wink that makes her melt oh-so-easily.

“Oh, Leon, I don’t know,” she muses, frowning softly, “This trip’s supposed to be all about you and your brother. You’re giving him his  _ starter _ , that’s a big deal! I think...maybe you should just focus on him right now, so it feels really special to him. And to you, too.”

Leon’s frown is short-lived, erupting into another sunny smile. “Guess you’re right! But, promise you’ll come with me sometime! It’s a quaint little place, faraway from all the...all of this.” He makes a vague gesture to everything around him.

Lianna’s own frown softens. “I would like that, Lee.”

He smiles, softly this time. “The gym challenge starts on Monday. It’s the biggest event of the year in Galar, so I might be a bit scarce next week. Just text me if you need me, okay?”

“I will,” she promises, then giggles a little too girlishly, embarrassing herself, “Hey, you think Hop’s going to finally take you down this year, undefeatable champion?”

“Maybe,” he chuckles, “Who knows? But if he does, I’m going to be so proud. He’s a good kid, I hope you can meet him soon. I think you’d like him.”

“If he’s anything like you,” she says, “of course I would.”

Now, it’s his turn to blush, laughing in a flustered manner. “You’re sweet.”

Lianna only snorts in response, as if it’s the most incredulous thing she’s ever heard.

“I think I should be free by Friday,” he says, “Thought we might try that second date then.”

He winks again. She melts. “Friday sounds great.”

“A proper date this time, you deserve better than some shoddy curry in the wild area.”

Lianna laughs. “You say that like your curry isn’t delicious and the wild area isn’t the most beautiful place I’ve ever laid eyes on. Give yourself some credit, Lee. That was a great first date. Except for the part where I cried on you and got all snotty.”

Leon chuckles nervously. “That was my fault for asking too many questions.”

She shakes her head. “Don’t worry about it. I still had fun. So, where to on Friday? Or is it a surprise again?”

“Well…” He scratches the back of his neck and looks entirely too handsome doing it. “There’s this place in Hulbury...it’s really uptight and overly fancy, but I thought it would afford us some privacy.” He glances up at her shyly for approval.

She smiles. “You know you didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to,” he reassures her, smiling softly, “So, dress a little nicely. We should be able to make eyes at each other across the table without someone snapping a photo and selling it to the media, at least. Nessa says the food’s good, too.”

“What time?” she asks.

“How about we meet at six, so we can be there by seven? I’ll get us a reservation, it should be no trouble. Being champion has some perks,” he chuckles.

“Sounds perfect. I’ll see you then, champ.”

He smiles, making an exaggerated kissy face at the camera. “Great. Bye, babe.”

“Bye, Lee,” she says, then lingers for a moment more to savor his smile for a few seconds longer before the call disconnects and she’s confronted with the sight of her own unruly-looking reflection in the black screen.

“Snom!” Popsicle chimes in.

“Yeah, I know,” she laughs, “Yikes.”

Hugging Popsicle gently, Lianna flops down on her back on the mattress and contemplates the conversation she just had. Leon speaks to her so casually now, calls her babe, calls her  _ his _ , and it lights a warmth in her chest unlike any she’s ever felt before. Perhaps she could have felt that sooner, but it was never the right time, never the right person. Leon feels...different, she decides through that lovey-dovey haze, and in the best possible way. She  _ trusts  _ him, and trusting him is, for her, a very big deal.

It’s a few hours later when Leon sends her another text message, a photograph of himself in his athletic attire, clearly taken inside the Wyndon stadium, beaming up at the camera in that charismatic way of his - with the ends of his hair blackened and a visible ash mark on his cheek.

> _ Whoops, misfire! _
> 
> _ Are you okay? _
> 
> _ I’m fine, happens all the time! _
> 
> _ Please be safe, champ. <3 _
> 
> _ Don’t worry, I will. <3 _

Lianna leans back into the sofa, Stickybun gnawing on a now cooked and cooled cookie shaped like an Eevee’s head and glazed in Pecha berry icing in her lap, and smiles without realizing it. Somehow, their little exchanges like this, casual texts sent throughout the day to say hello or check on one another or show each other something about their day, feel much more intimate than their date in the wild area or their plans for Friday evening in Hulbury. It feels  _ real _ .

She hasn’t sent him a selfie yet, mostly because she thought he wouldn’t care to have one. But now, he’s sending them to her, snapping them almost as frequently as Raihan to showcase little pieces of his life to her, making her feel warm and fuzzy and stupidly infatuated inside. Maybe, she thinks, he would like to see her, too.

She reaches forward and takes a cookie from the plate on the coffee table, flicking her Rotom phone up into the air and snapping a photo of herself with one corner of the cookie between her lips and Sticky dangling from her shoulder, devouring her own. And even though it isn’t a perfect picture, she decides it’s cute and clicks send.

A moment later, she adds a caption.

_ Tastes almost as sweet as you. _


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a side note, Aisling is a stand-in for Gloria with, in my opinion, a better name lol.
> 
> There are graphic depictions of violence and physical abuse in this chapter.

Stickybun is particularly unruly on Friday. She sees Lianna showering, styling her hair, applying eyeliner, and dressing in something other than patterned leggings or shorts with stockings with that pink button-up she always wears and knows on sight that her trainer is planning on going somewhere - probably somewhere that Goomies aren’t allowed, which displeases her  _ immensely _ . Places that require Lianna to wear a black cocktail dress and heels and a dainty faux diamond choker are usually too fancy to permit sentient slimeballs on the tables, after all. Sticky finds that horribly discriminatory and unfair, and expresses how upset she is by sliming twice as much as usual as she slides back and forth across the unmade bed.

“Sticky,” Lianna sighs, “I just washed the sheets, c’mon. What’s gotten into you?”

“Goomy, Goom!”

“I know, it’s unfair,” Lianna agrees wholeheartedly, “What kind of establishment doesn’t allow Goomies on the table?” Probably one that serves escar-Goom, she thinks to herself and shudders violently at the thought.

“Goom, Goom, Goom!”

“I’m sorry, Sticky. I don’t think even Leon could convince the restaurant owner to let you sit with us,” Lianna says, patting the angry slimeball on the head, then drying her palm on the already slimy sheets, which she would no doubt have to wash later, “But, I’m going to bring you with me in your ball, so you can chat with us on the walk back, okay? Leon likes seeing you, too. We’re a package deal, remember?”

“Goomy!” Stickybun proclaims, puffing up proudly, as if to say,  _ That’s right, we are! _

Lianna retrieves her satchel, procuring her Rotom phone, her wallet, her house keys, and a spare tube of lipstick, neatly tucking them into a studded black clutch. It was the same one she was wearing on the first night she met Leon, smiling fondly as she considers how much things have changed in such a short span of time. It isn’t like her, but she isn’t mad at it, either. Then, she rifles through the satchel for a can of Pokemon treats, shaking a few out into the palm of her hand and offering them to Sticky. “You want a snack? A little snacky snack?”

Stickybun is plucking treats from Lianna’s hand when there’s a knock on the door frame behind them. Lianna looks over her shoulder and smiles at Rosa, who smiles back, eyes sweeping over her choice of attire with an exaggerated high-pitched whistle. “What’s the occasion?”

“A fancy restaurant in a place called Hulbury, apparently,” Lianna laughs, patting Sticky on the head before she straightens out from her half-crouch and smooths a wrinkle out of her cocktail dress.

“Ooh, fancy,” Rosa agrees, “You look good. Isn’t that what you had on the night you two met?”

“Yeah,” Lianna admits, adjusting her glasses awkwardly, “but, it’s the only nice thing I have with me and I didn’t feel like going shopping today. The shops have been crazy busy since the gym challenge started.”

“There are a lot of tourists in Wyndon right now,” Rosa says, “Getting ready for the champion cup already, I guess. It’s a big deal around here.”

“Jeez, there were like three people watching whenever I had challengers,” Lianna laments, “But I guess I preferred it that way. Especially when it was a kid, I always hated that.”

Rosa nods. “Me too.”

Lianna searches her rental room for Stickybun’s Pokeball, returning her quickly before the Goomy can begin to object. Rosa cocks a brow and asks, “You’re bringing Sticky?”

“I promised I would,” Lianna says, “She can hang out with us on the way home. She’s irked at me for going somewhere she can’t go. You know how attached she is.”

Rosa chuckles, recalling the many times Sticky has adamantly protested Lianna’s leaving without her in her rightful place on her shoulder or screeched at Lianna for trying to return her to her Pokeball. “I do,” she agrees, shrugging, “Anyways, have fun on your date. And...hey, I’m happy for you, Lee.”

Lianna smiles softly. “Thanks. It makes me nervous - it makes me real damn nervous, if I’m being perfectly honest - but...I think I’m enjoying it. It’s...nice, being with someone like Leon. He’s surprisingly down to earth, for a champion. No offense.”

Rosa laughs. “None taken. Now, go on, before you’re late.”

Lianna shoulders her clutch on its dainty chain, slipping Sticky’s Pokeball into it on her way towards the front door, dangling her keys on one finger.

Rosa calls after her, “And Lee?”

“Hmm?” Lianna calls back from the door.

Rosa snorts, grinning teasingly. “Have a  _ champion time _ .”

Lianna rolls her eyes. “I’m begging you, please just shut up.”

* * *

Leon had told Lianna to meet him in Hulbury the previous night, because the Wyndon stadium is remarkably busy this time of year with preparations for the champion cup. She calls a Corviknight Cab and is there within half an hour, petting the sleek, strong bird in thanks before she types the restaurant’s address into her Rotom phone and follows it there. Leon is nowhere to be found, so she texts him.

> _ Where are you? _
> 
> _ Guess. _
> 
> _ You’re lost again, aren’t you? _
> 
> _ You know me so well. Be there ASAP. I’m so sorry. _
> 
> _ Don’t worry about it. <3 _

It’s ten minutes later when Leon stumbles around the corner and sighs in relief when he spots her, wearing a candy-sweet apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry I’m late,” he laments, and she doesn’t miss how his honey-golden gaze sweeps over her figure for a hot second before he catches and corrects himself, that smile turning sheepish, “You look lovely.”

“Thanks,” Lianna says and straightens his diagonally striped tie, which looks so eerily out of place on him, paired with a plain white button-up and business slacks, “You look good, too. Didn’t realize you could actually dress yourself decently, babe.”

He chuckles. “I thought the cape might be inappropriate for tonight.”

“Only a little,” she agrees, “You’re almost unrecognizable without the cape and snapback. But, you’re lucky. You look good in damn near anything, champ.”

This time, his chuckle is a bit nervous, but then he offers Lianna his arm and walks her inside. “C’mon, I’m hungry.”

Lianna tries not to notice how  _ champion  _ Leon’s ass looks in those slacks. “Me too, champ.”

Inside, a waitress seats them, but not before bringing them upstairs to a private second floor reserved for, from what Lianna quickly gathers, celebrities and household names who would otherwise be harrassed on the main floor, either by nosy reporters or by well-meaning fans indiscreetly snapping photos of them from across the room. It’s a nice place, more uptight than Lianna is used to, and Leon has reserved them a window seat that overlooks the beautiful bay below. Hulbury, she discovers, sits on the edge of the Galarian sea, currently painted all the colors of the dwindling light as the sun sets outside.

The waitress seats them, distributes menus, and leaves, returning momentarily with two glasses of champagne, then tells them to take their time with the menus. Lianna browses it disinterestedly before she confesses, “I don’t know what half of this is.”

“Me either,” Leon agrees, wrestling his phone out of his pocket, “I’m texting Nessa for help.”

One consultation with the water-type gem leader later, the two decide on some sort of fish-based dish served with side salads. The salads arrive shortly thereafter and Lianna nibbles at a lettuce leaf speared on her fork, not much of a salad person. Leon is looking equally unenthused across the table.

Lianna clears her throat. “How’s Hop? Saw his match with Milo on TV the other night, looks like he’s making good progress. And what’s his friend’s name? Starts with an A, but I can’t pronounce it.”

“Aisling,” Leon chuckles, “She’s our neighbor’s daughter. Sweet kid. She’s been friends with Hop ever since the two of them could walk and talk.”

“Cute,” Lianna agrees, “I saw her match, too. She’s promising. So is Hop.”

“Hop’s having a blast,” Leon says, “He texts me photos of his new Grookey every night. He’s so excited to finally be training on his own.”

“He’s on his own? I would have thought he would travel with Aisling,” she comments, chewing idly on a lettuce leaf.

He shrugs. “Guess they both wanted to set their own pace. I would’ve felt better if they were together. I know they’ve got their Pokemon, but…”

“It’s dangerous out there,” Lianna agrees, finally pushing her salad aside as politely as she can. Leon follows suit a moment later. “I...I wish someone would have been with me, back when I left home the first time.” Her gaze drifts down behind her glasses, focusing intently on the patterns hidden in the polished wood grain of the tabletop.

Leon’s eyes settle on that crescent moon scar on her throat, and the many others that wrack her skin, paper-white and almost invisible against the pale of her skin, over her shoulders, disappearing beneath the hem of her shoulderless dress. She doesn’t have to tell him. He thinks he already knows.

“I...almost made it back to the Elite Four, back in Kanto,” Lianna says, surprising him with her abrupt openness, “I was about to challenge the eighth gym when...something happened.”

Leon might think he knows, but he almost doesn’t want to hear her say it. He wants to believe it isn’t true. He wets his lips with his tongue, speaking softly, “What happened, Lee? You can tell me.”

Lianna hesitates. He sees her consider it. And then, she squeezes her eyes closed and he reaches across the table to take her hand halfway there, squeezing it so gently, so reassuringly, that she can’t help but feel safe…

_ The route between Pewter and Viridian is a familiar one, a road Lianna often traveled even as a much younger child, usually accompanied by her mother: a tired-looking woman only thinly veiling her annoyance at being saddled with a child and left to raise her all alone by a man Lianna had never met. But, now, Lianna is alone, the Viridian Forest as thick as night around her, the canopy casting her almost entirely in shadow as the daylight turns to evening, eerily quick. _

_ Lianna might have felt happy right now, mere miles from the eighth gym that would grant her the final badge she needed to participate in the Pokemon League and challenge the champion, had the past few days not transpired the way that they had. Right now, she feels less like a young trainer on top of the world, soon to conquer the ultimate challenge, and more like a heartbroken fifteen-year-old. _

_ A shadow falls across her path. _

_ Lianna scowls. She doesn’t look up. She doesn’t have to. She already knows who it is. _

_ “Go away, Wes. I told you to leave me alone.” _

_ A hand catches her underneath the chin and squeezes her throat hard enough to crush her windpipe before she can even think to reach for her Pokeballs. Her breath leaves her in a harsh gasp, hands rising to claw viciously at the fingers wrapped around her throat, threatening to squeeze the life right out of her. She would have gasped again, if she had the air left in her, when he jerked her off of her feet and slammed her back into the nearest tree trunk, knocking what little wind remained in her lungs out of her, bruising her shoulderblades. _

_ He laughs as she struggles. “You’re pathetic. You would do well to learn your place, baby girl,” he very nearly purrs, lips close to the shell of her ear. She kicks at his shins, but it’s useless, he’s held her like this enough times by now to know precisely how to avoid her lashes and all her futile attempts at retaliation. _

_ And then, her satchel slides off her shoulder and hits the ground with a thump and one of her Pokeballs opens of its own accord, releasing the hulking form of her Venusaur. _

_ Lianna coughs out a feeble cry. Her Venusaur instantly understands that she’s in danger, vines emerging from the great pink growth on its back - but they’re met with a blast of fire from above. Wes' Charizard, Lianna knows. It’s never far. _

_ Her Venusaur looks to her for direction, but Lianna can’t speak, the fingers on her throat clenching too tightly, squeezing her windpipe, silencing her. She wheezes, glasses hanging off-kilter on her nose before Wes' free hand slaps them away with a resounding smack that echoes across the eerie quiet of the woods that Lianna now understands was a warning that danger was near. Her face stings from the impact. Her Venusaur roars, outraged, but Wes' Charizard sweeps down to stop it from retaliating, vicious claws tearing through Venusaur’s scaly leathery flesh like a knife through hot butter. Venusaur reels back, bellowing, and in that split second that its soft underside is exposed, the Charizard strikes. _

_ This isn’t a Pokemon battle. _

_ Lianna’s eyes tremble with tears as she realizes that her Pokemon has fallen in an eerily still heap on the forest floor. He isn’t moving. _

_ Because he isn’t alive. _

_ It’s customary for no blood to be purposefully spilled in Pokemon battles. They’re sporting events, not mindless carnivals for carnage, not vicious dog fights. There are regulations and rules in place to protect both trainer and Pokemon. But this is no Pokemon battle. _

_ This is Wes forgoing all the rules to get what he wants, the way he always has. _

_ Lianna stops struggling. Wes squeezes her throat harder, then finally drops her. She crumbles to her knees at his feet, gasping for air, stomach heaving, and he slaps her across the cheek so hard that her ears ring in the aftermath. _

_ Wes turns on his heels for a fraction of a second. Lianna scrambles for her satchel, upending it so that all its contents scatter across the forest floor. Five Pokeballs bounce through the leaf litter. Lianna manages to close her fingers around one of them and throw it as far as she can before Wes is grabbing her around the waist and wrestling her back up against that tree trunk. From it, her Jolteon emerges. _

_ “Get help!” Lianna cries at the frightened creature as it cowers at the sight of them, “Get help, get help…!” _

_ Wes slams the side of her face into the tree trunk. “Quiet! Charizard, after it!” _

_ Lianna’s Jolteon bolts off into the trees. Wes’ Charizard spreads its wings and starts to pursue it, when a great shape crashes into it from the side, dragging it down. Lianna’s Arcanine, freed from its ball when she dumped them all from her bag, closes its huge mouth around the dragon’s throat, wrestling it to the ground with a growl that would make anyone shudder. _

_ What happens next, happens fast. _

_ Lianna is woozy. She feels blood bubbling up from somewhere around her temple, her soft skin scraping against rough tree bark as Wes shouts at her, but she’s no longer processing his words. She feels a thousand miles away, like it’s happening to someone else, like Wes isn’t jerking her head back by a fistful of her hair and slamming it into the tree trunk again and again and again… _

_ A slap across the cheek finally makes Lianna yelp, bringing her back to the terrifying reality unfolding around her. She’s no longer a spectator a million miles away, watching it happen to someone else, and her cry has her Arcanine barreling towards her with a roar, intent on ripping her attacker off of her and making him the victim of its mighty fangs. _

_ Wes slams her head into the tree trunk again. This time, the blow feels sticky, tacky, and Lianna only dimly realizes that it’s because the bark is now smeared with her blood. Her vision blurs and starts to fade to black, and the last thing she hears before unconsciousness takes her is her Arcanine screaming in what must be terrible pain. _

Lianna opens her eyes, feeling the sting of tears. Not here, not in this uptight fancy restaurant with beautiful, sweet, perfect Leon seated across from her, holding her hand oh-so-tightly while his brows pinch together and his mouth hangs open in a most horrified expression. Not here. She will not cry.

She forces the tears back with a few blinks. And then, Leon’s hand is carefully unwinding from hers, fingers parting and trailing away as he finally finds it in himself to close his mouth. This is it, Lianna thinks. This is the part where he runs away screaming, as she had so eloquently put it before.

Instead, his hand comes to rest on her cheek, fingers stroking tender skin as he smiles at her so kindly, and it’s the sweetest thing she’s ever felt.

When Leon speaks, his voice is as sweet as his touch, so soft, so tender, “I don’t even know what to say, except that...that’s awful. You didn’t deserve that. Thank you for telling me. And...I’m sorry.”

Lianna’s hand tentatively settles over his on her cheek, holding him close, as she blinks through the tears and feels them start to fade. “You’re right. It was awful.” She hiccups. “But, what was worse was...was the carnage I woke up to. I don’t remember that part as much. I just remember hearing sirens, and then someone was shaking me, and I opened my eyes and...and…”

“Shhh…,” Leon whispers soothingly, two fingers stroking her cheek, “Take your time. We don’t have to talk about it right now.”

“He  _ killed  _ them, Leon. He killed my Pokemon,” Lianna whimpers, “That...that isn’t how it’s supposed to be. Pokemon are supposed to fight, but not...not like that. Never like that.”

“Never,” Leon agrees, then swallows hard as he meets her teary-eyed gaze, “You said...it was a Charizard?”

“It was,” Lianna says, “but, don’t worry. I...I didn’t blame him. He was only following his trainer’s orders. There are no bad Pokemon. Only bad people, who teach them to do bad things.”

“Are you...okay, being around  _ my  _ Charizard? I understand if it’s too traumatic or if it brings back bad memories or -”

Lianna stops him with a finger to his lips, surprised at how plump and soft they are. He must moisturize. Gotta look good for all those cameras, she supposes. “I would never blame your Pokemon for something someone else did to me. I’m not afraid of him. I promise.”

He exhales in visible relief. “I’m glad.”

Lianna’s hand falls to the table, where her fingers meet Leon’s halfway. They mesh together, like a lock in a key, fitting together oh-so-perfectly. Leon leans across the table to rub noses with her and it’s the most stupidly sweet thing Lianna has ever seen.

“Hey, Lee?” he pipes up after a few moments, which she spends sipping some much needed champagne to steady her nerves. No place to relive a traumatic experience than the dinner table at some restaurant far too fancy for her to be in to begin with. But, she feels...lighter somehow, now that she’s said it, now that she’s told him, now that he  _ knows  _ and still hasn’t walked away from her. It feels like a great weight has been lifted off her shoulders and she realizes that that warm cozy feeling in her chest is the feeling of being  _ accepted. _

She even finds it in herself to smile, the tears now long forgotten. “Yes?”

He hesitates, then asks, “Where...did you get that scar on your throat?”

Lianna’s free hand rises to touch the slightly puff, paper-white mark on the side of her throat. “Oh, that…” Her gaze drifts away and Leon fears for a moment that he’s said the wrong thing, squeezing the hand in his gently, reassuringly. “My Pokemon tried to protect me, and his Charizard killed them all. Only my Jolteon survived, and that’s because I sent him away to get help. But, I guess Pokemon get into a sort of...a sort of  _ madness _ if they fight that way. And when there was nothing else left for him to fight...Wes let him have me instead.”

Leon’s heart sinks. “You...were mauled.”

“The worst of it is on my back,” she says softly, now playing idly with the charm on her faux diamond necklace, “All things considered, I think it healed pretty nicely. Skin grafts are pretty good these days.”

“Oh, Lee…”

“And...I asked the police about it later, I wanted to know. They said that the Charizard was tranquilized and placed in a rehabilitation facility for Pokemon with abusive trainers. He recovered and was able to be placed with a new trainer later on. He got a happy ending.”

Leon’s gaze drifts away, then comes back to hers. “And...what about you?”

He feels Lianna’s hand tighten around his, a faint smile on her lips, which look just so pretty, so  _ kissable _ , in bright red lipstick. It’s her color for sure. “I...think I did, champ. I moved to Hoenn after that, for therapy. And I met the Pokemon professor there. He convinced me to try the gym challenge again and, while I was out there getting badges, I got to meet my dad! And he was...the family I never knew I wanted, even if he was a little...unconventional at first. And then we moved to Alola and I met Rosa. I met Sticky. I met...you.”

Leon smiles and realizes just how much he had wanted to hear that. And then, the waitress is returning and putting places of steaming-hot food down in front of them, interrupting them only briefly. Leon thanks her and makes a mental note to leave her a generous tip later.

“I’m...sorry, that all of this happened to you, Lee,” he says as he readies his silverware, “But, I’m glad you told me.”

“I am, too,” she says, sampling a bite of her food, some type of fish, “Mmm. This is good. I don’t eat much meat, but this is worth it.”

Leon toys with a piece of fish with his fork. “There’s one more thing I would really like to know.”

Lianna chuckles, bemused. “Haven’t had enough trauma for one night, champ? Alright, let’s hear it.”

He smiles. This story, he thinks, will be a much happier one. “Tell me how you met Sticky.”

This time, the question brings a smile to Lianna’s face and, with those slightly wavy locks of burgundy red hair framing her oval face, she looks oh-so-pretty across the dinner table. “Oh, I met Sticky in Kalos, I visited there briefly after I retired as champion,” she says, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, where faux diamond studs match her necklace, “I met Poseidon there, too. My Vaporeon.”

“Kalos is beautiful,” Leon muses through a mouthful of fish, before he realizes that that’s terribly rude and swallows with a meek, “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she giggles, taking a bite of her own food, “This really is good. Anyways, I was in one of the swamps in Kalos. Just exploring a bit before I had to go back home. And I found...a little baby Goomy. She was so new, she still had bits of egg shell sticking to her…” Lianna smiles so fondly that Leon feels his heart pang. “She was all alone. I looked everywhere, but I couldn’t find her mother. Couldn’t even find a nest. So, I took her to the Pokemon Center. They told me that, since she didn’t have a mother, I should take her with me and give her a good home. So...I did.”

“Ah, so that’s why she’s so attached to you,” Leon muses, “You’re like her mother.”

“I guess I am!” says Lianna, with a delighted giggle, “She’s sweet. She used to cry a lot, when she was little. And I would just pick her up and cradle her and sing her a lullaby. Not very well, mind you, but Sticky seemed to like it.”

Leon smiles and scarfs down what’s left of his meal, patting his face clean with a heavy fabric napkin. “You’re a good trainer, Lee. In more ways than one.”

“Thank you,” she says, finishing her own meal much more daintily. Their fingers, no longer occupied with napkins and silverware, find each other again, intermingling in the middle of the table, almost on instinct. “Say, Hop should be arriving in Hulbury any day now, shouldn’t he? He’ll be challenging Nessa. Thoughts?”

“He’s got this,” Leon says, completely confident, and Lianna agrees. She’s about to respond when someone clears their throat, distracting her.

Leon leans back in his chair, but his hand doesn’t leave Lianna’s. “Chairman Rose,” he says, slightly startled to see him here.

“Leon,” the chairman says, smiling warmly, “I thought that was you! What brings you to Hulbury?”

“Oh, I’m...here on personal business,” Leon answers, surprisingly meekly, and Lianna can’t help but raise a brow. But, she’s inclined to agree with him; it isn’t any of the chairman’s business why Leon is here.

“I see,” the chairman says, his heavy gaze slowly turning to Lianna, skimming over the fingers intwined between them. He studies her hard for a moment, then smiles. “Ah, you’re Rosa’s friend! That’s where I know you from!”

“Lianna, sir,” she replies politely, dipping her head, “We’ve met before.”

“Indeed we have,” he muses, “Say, you were with Leon when I saw you before. I didn’t realize you two were so...close.”

Lianna feels the hair on the back of her neck prickle.

“Well, I can see that you two are busy,” the chairman says, with another smile that should be warm but feels plastic, fake, “I’ll leave you to it.”

“Have a good night, sir,” Leon says, as the chairman walks away, disappearing down the stairs. Lianna can feel the tension in his hand, looking at him questioningly. She doesn’t have to ask. He sighs, smiling apologetically. “Sorry about that. I swear he appears out of thin air sometimes. I...I was going to tell him, but I didn’t want it to be blown out of proportion and become a media scandal in the middle of the gym challenge.”

“I understand,” Lianna replies, smiling sweetly. The waitress comes to collect their empty plates and unexpectedly informs them that their bill has been covered by a generous patron before she shuffles away, balancing a tower of dishes.

Leon smiles and shakes his head. “Rose, I suppose.”

“Mmm…,” Lianna hums vacantly.

Leon takes notice. “Something wrong?”

“No, just…” She shakes her head and smiles. “It’s nothing. Hey, I think I saw an ice cream place on my way here. How about it, champ? My treat.”

Leon smiles, then leans across the table to pensively kiss her on the tip of her nose, to which she erupts into a grin with a happy giggle. “Yeah. I would like that.” 


	12. Chapter 12

Lianna wishes she could say she was walking down the shoreline hand-in-hand with Galar’s incredibly attractive champion, and not that she was merely walking alongside him while she juggled two ice cream cones, one for herself and one for the increasingly sticky Goomy balancing precariously on her shoulder, but it would be a lie.

She clicks her tongue at her Pokemon, chuckling softly as she tips the tiny kiddie cone towards her, commenting, “Getting any of that in your mouth, bud? Chocolate isn’t a good look for you, kid.”

Leon laughs too, deep and rich, tongue rolling thickly over his own cone. “She’s cute, leave her alone.”

Lianna tsk’d. “Your good looks get you by with too much, Sticky.”

“Goo!” Stickybun sassed, with no shortage of chocolate ice cream smeared across her slimy little face - and dripping down the length of Lianna’s forearm as it melted and mixed with Sticky’s slime.

“Hey, watch your attitude,” Lianna remarks good-naturedly, pausing to lick her own white chocolate raspberry cone while Sticky continues to turn them both into an unholy mess. Such was life with a Goomy. Leon bites into his own cone and Lianna shudders at the secondhand brain freeze while he seems profoundly unbothered.

Despite the combination ice cream-slime sludge oozing along her forearm, Lianna feels nothing but pleasant, here on the Hulbury shore with Leon and Sticky. The sunset has mostly faded into a peaceful purple twilight, the beginnings of stars reflected in the rippling sea, waves lapping higher and higher along the shore as the tide gradually rises. There’s still the slightest haze of bright yellow light glistening just above the horizon, giving the waves an eerie golden hue. It’s quiet, except for the rather obnoxiously wet sounds Sticky is making by her ear. She smiles.

“You know,” she says, “this is the most at peace I’ve felt in a long time.”

He smiles too. “I’m glad.”

“I am too, champ,” she muses and is about to say more when there’s a sudden sound like the electrical surge she overhears on the battlefield as her Manectric charges an attack. She snaps to alert in the same instant as Leon as the electrical lines that line the streets of Hulbury surge with power, crackle for several seconds, and then short out, the city behind them abruptly descending into darkness.

“Leon?” Lianna questions once the electrical surge has passed, blinking in the sudden blackness now that only the stars remain to light up the night, “What’s going on? A power outage?”

He answers quietly, and only after several moments have passed, “Yeah. But...this far south? All the way in Hulbury?”

She quirks a brow through the darkness. Stickybun tilts too far forward, tipping the sad melty remainder of her ice cream out of its cone and into the sand and lamenting it with a sharp cry, before Lianna immediately offers her what’s left of hers. “What, this happens a lot?”

“More and more often every week,” Leon laments and, even in the semi-darkness, Lianna can see the concern etched into his handsome features, his jaw visibly clenched.

“Why?”

“Because Galar has an energy shortage,” he tells her, in a voice that isn’t nearly optimistic or cheerful enough to belong to her Leon, “Rose says...it’s an imminent problem, that we’re going to have to figure something out soon or the entire region might be without power before the end of the year.”

“Yikes,” Lianna remarks, startled, “Why haven’t I heard about this until now?”

“It isn’t exactly included in the tourism brochures,” he says, chuckling dryly, humorlessly, “Rose says it would be bad for tourism if we were too open about it, but most everyone who lives here, or even stays here for an extended period of time, knows about it. I’m surprised this is the first time you’ve seen a surge like this.”

“How does it not interfere with the gym challenge and the exhibition matches?” she asks, “I would assume the stadiums use a lot of power.”

“They do,” he audibly worries, dumping the melted remnants of his ice cream in the nearest trashcan. Lianna follows suit, before digging through her clutch for the wet wipes she’s learned to always carry with a Goomy around. “Rose is worried it will start to effect the gym challenge soon, and that’s Galar’s biggest source of tourism for the entire year. People come from around the world to watch it.”

“So, it would be bad for Galar’s economy,” Lianna surmises, thoroughly toweling her arm off with a wet wipe, “But, what about the people who live here? Surely they must be suffering because of this.”

“They are,” Leon says, “Especially Spikemuth. That’s where Piers lives. The place is practically in ruins and Rose just…” He trails off, like he’s said something he shouldn’t have.

“Rose doesn’t care,” she finishes for him, shrugging, “People like him never do.”

“I don’t think he doesn’t care,” Leon protests, “He cares, he just...doesn’t know what to do about it. He doesn’t know how to fix it, so he would rather just ignore it. Spikemuth wasn’t exactly a beloved tourist destination, anyways, so I guess it...matters less to him.”

“But, when it starts to effect the major cites,” Lianna says, “then he’ll care, and he’ll care for all the wrong reasons.”

Leon smiles at her weakly through the semi-darkness as she wipes ice cream off of Sticky’s face. “I don’t blame you for being cynical. The situation is...bleak, to say the least.”

“I don’t mean to be,” she says, softer now, tossing the dirty wet wipes before she places a gentle hand on his shoulder, “It must be...hard, being champion right now.”

“It is,” he says, “It really is.”

Lianna watches him for a moment, frowning pensively with his handsome features glowing silver in the moonlight, looking perfectly princely even without his cape. There’s something new in his honey-golden eyes, something she glimpsed only once before, the first time he had taken her to the wild area and shared the first taste of his heart with her:  _ It’s hard sometimes, when you can’t really and truly be yourself because you think maybe...that isn’t the you the world wants to see. It’s the you that makes them say...I liked him more when he was happy. I liked him more when he was ours. _

“You know,” she says after several moments, Stickybun perching precariously on her shoulder as she stretches both arms out in front of her to gently grip him by the shoulders, steady brown eyes shimmering behind her glasses lenses, “My dad has spent most of his life studying geothermal energy. He might be able to make some suggestions. Maybe...he could help you.”

Leon’s face lights up instantly. “Really? You really think he could help us figure something out?”

Lianna presses a finger to his lips. They’re unexpectedly soft. “Maybe not in time for this year’s gym challenge, but...definitely in time for next year’s, champ. My father’s a smart man.”

“Explains where you get it from,” he chuckles, some of the life slowly returning to his tone, “But...we would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.”

She takes advantage of their position to lean in close and peck him on the cheek, forgetting she has ruby-red lipstick on. “Anytime, champ.”

She feels him relax beneath her grasp at the kiss, practically purring against her ear as he wraps two strong arms around her and pulls her into a hug. Stickybun squawks unhappily at them from Lianna’s shoulder, reminding them that she still very much exists and they are very much squishing her. Leon leans back, chuckling softly, and pats her on the head. “Whoops. Sorry, Sticky!”

“You’re such a third wheel,” Lianna chuckles at her Pokemon.

Leon laughs. “Who, me or Sticky?”

“I meant Sticky, but I suppose it depends on the context,” she teases, then glances back at the darkened city of Hulbury and frowns, “Is there anything we can do?”

Leon considers it for a moment. She sees the exact instant when a lightbulb ignites in his head. “You don’t happen to have your Manectric with you, do you?”

Lianna seldom leaves home without Kaizen. Stickybun stays with her nearly constantly because of her separation anxiety for Lianna, but Kaizen stays with Lianna because, after what she’s been through, she learned to never leave home without some means of protection and Kaizen is, if nothing else, very good at electrocuting anything that displeases her. She pats her clutch, where Kaizen’s Pokeball is currently tucked away, but can’t help but chuckle. “Leon, I don’t think that’s how electricity works.”

Grinning, Leon takes her hand and leads her towards the nearby power plant. “Worth a shot, isn’t it?”

Lianna returns to her rental home that night with the ends of her hair only slightly charred, while Chairman Rose sends Leon a reprimanding text message about the endangerment of the public. The electricity in Hulbury, however, remains out until morning, when it comes back on as unexpectedly as it went out.

* * *

Lianna stumbles to the kitchen for breakfast an hour later than usual, after she’s showered and brushed the remainders of charcoal and ash out of her hair. Rosa is scrolling through Pokegram on her Rotom phone with a half-eaten plate of food in front of her, while Kaizen is loitering in the living area nearby, looking pointedly proud of herself.

Rosa glances up from her phone. “Saved you a plate, it’s in the microwave.”

“Thanks,” Lianna says blearily, fetching it.

“Heard you nearly blew up a power plant last night,” Rosa laughs dryly, “and that isn’t even what you made the papers over.”

“Yeah, some dummy thought it would be a good idea to try to recharge Hulbury’s generators with Kaizen,” Lianna remarks, “Unfortunately, he was a very good-looking dummy, and you know I’m a sucker for a himbo.”

She blinks twice, processing the latter half of Rosa’s sentence. “Wait. Did you say I’m in the paper?”

“Hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Rosa replies, “But you’re in the papers, on the TV, and all over social media. Seems word’s gotten out about your, uh,  _ champion affair _ .” She taps through several pages on her phone, then turns it towards Lianna. Onscreen, there’s an article titled precisely that, headlining her as Leon’s new girlfriend.

Lianna’s mouth feels dry. “Oh.”

“It was going to happen sooner or later,” Rosa says, “I mean, he’s a celebrity.”

Lianna shrugs weakly. “What does it say?”

Rosa shrugs back. “Not much, beyond that Galar’s most eligible bachelor is no longer on the table because he caught himself a former champion.”

Groaning, Lianna flops down at the table with a plate of lukewarm bacon and soggy toast. “Oh, Arceus, they’re digging shit up on me already.”

“It isn’t exactly the most well-kept secret,” Rosa points out, “Didn’t Raihan find out just by searching the web for it?”

“He did,” Lianna laments, groaning at herself for not having that damned webpage removed, even though someone probably would have reuploaded it immediately. Oh well, she thinks, someone was bound to recognize her eventually, in a place as big as Galar. Maybe she should have cut her hair before their trip, but it’s too late now.

“Looks like someone nabbed a paparazzi shot of you two last night, too,” Rosa muses as she scrolls, turning her phone towards Lianna again.

Lianna squints at the screen. “Wait. That’s inside the restaurant at Hulbury.”

“Yeah, no shit.”

“Rosa, Leon said we should have been able to eat there  _ without _ anyone bothering us. There wasn’t much of anyone seated around us and we were on a private floor. I’m pretty sure we paid extra for their secrecy or some shit,” Lianna elaborates, gesturing vaguely with her hands, the way she does when she’s a bit stressed, “To put it simply, someone shouldn’t have been able to get a picture of us together. At least, not there.”

Rosa shrugs again. “Guess someone was a snitch.”

Lianna huffs. “Ugh. I just hope I can still walk around without getting swamped by reporters. Kinda thought I was past this when I retired as champion.”

“Once you’re in the spotlight, you never really get out,” Rosa laments.

“Suppose you’re right,” Lianna sighs, “I’m sure Leon’s already seen it.”

“I’m sure he already has eight interviews scheduled about it,” Rosa laughs, “Especially if Chairman Rose has anything to say about it.”

“Ugh, guy gives me the creeps,” Lianna groans as she flops her head down on the table dramatically, then shoots upright suddenly, “Wait! He was at the restaurant last night! He talked to us!”

Rosa hesitates, swirling her coffee around in its mug. “You don’t think…?”

Lianna shrugs. “If it was good for publicity, which it clearly was, I wouldn’t put it past him.”

Rosa huffs into her coffee mug as she takes a sip. “Ugh. Jerk.”

Lianna sends Leon a text message about the media leak a few hours later, after she’s soothed her anxiety and comforted the sinking feeling in her gut with half a box of donuts from a nearby bakery, but he doesn’t answer her until two hours later. She already knows why.

> _ Sorry, baby. _
> 
> _ The Hulbury matches were today and I went to watch Hop and Aisling. _
> 
> _ BTW They were both great. _
> 
> _ But yeah, I saw it. Are you okay? _

Lianna has to smile at his wholesomeness, a pillow half-folded underneath herself as she lays on her stomach in bed while Stickybun and Popsicle entertain themselves with a rubber ball in the floor.

> _ I’m fine. Are you? _
> 
> _ Are you kidding me? _
> 
> _ My baby brother just won his second match and now all of Galar knows I have a super cute, super strong girlfriend! I’m great! _

Lianna laughs out loud. Her Pokemon look at her questioningly.

> _ You’re a goofball. _
> 
> _ But it’s true! _
> 
> _ It’s weird, you know. _
> 
> _ Hearing you call me your girlfriend. _
> 
> _ Why? _
> 
> _ You are my girlfriend, right? _
> 
> _ Of course I am, silly. _
> 
> _ I just didn’t think I would ever have this again. _
> 
> _ This is what you deserved all along, baby. _
> 
> _ Maybe someday I’ll believe that. _
> 
> _ I hope I’m the thing that makes you believe it. _

Absentmindedly, Lianna smiles, then raises a hand to touch her lips to feel the way they’re upturned. It’s been too long since she felt this pleasant, happy ache in her chest, since her mind felt so eerily at peace, for once not so at war with itself over how she is and isn’t supposed to feel. Before, it ended so badly, so violently, so painfully, and she had sworn that, no matter the cost, no matter the loneliness, she never wanted to feel that, not ever again. She never wanted to meet someone who made her want to sort out the bloated spider’s web of feelings in her chest and make the shape of love again.

But Leon…

Leon will not hurt her. She thinks it and her mind, always firmly seated in logic, always afraid to be steered by the way her heart feels, instantly knows it to be true. Not all people are bad. Not all people are cruel. And especially not Leon. Her Leon.

Her Leon.

She smiles wider as she types a response and clicks send.

> _ I hope you are too. _

* * *

It’s not even 8AM when Lianna’s phone rings the following morning.

Groaning, she rolls over in bed, groping blindly for her glasses, then her phone, which threatens to vibrate out of her hand before she manages to press the button to answer the call - and not before she sees the string of unanswered text messages from Maxie and Archie onscreen. She’s instantly alert, panicking as she mentally reels through the possibilities of one of them being injured or sick or there being some emergency back home.

She grimaces when she answers the video call and sees her own face reflected in the upper corner of the screen, glasses hanging lopsidedly off her nose and hair unattractively tousled from tossing and turning throughout the night.

Even worse is the markedly stern look that greets her on her father’s face, the deep lines in his face looking especially dark in the early morning light of what she recognizes as their living room back home, giving him a rather mean countenance.

She already knows what she did.

“Hi,” she says meekly and tries her best to smile in a way that’s earnest and cute and might appeal to her father’s better nature.

“Lianna,” Maxie says sternly, adjusting his glasses, “Would you like to explain yourself?”

Lianna has tried a lot of things in her life. Lying to her father is not one of them. Maxie is too intuitive, too clever, and has probably already done entirely too much research to ever be fooled by anyone’s lies - much less lies from someone he knows as well as he knows Lianna. The two of them are so alike, he can sense anything less than the truth from her as he could from himself.

Archie’s face slides into the frame, much too close to the camera. “Hey, scamp! Caught yourself a real champion boyfriend, did ya?” He laughs. “When were ya gonna tell us? ‘Cause I’m sure ya were going to!”

She exhales in a spluttering sigh, cheeks deflating, straightening her glasses. “ _ Of course  _ I was. I don’t keep secrets from you. From either of you.”

“And yet, we find out that you’re seeing someone - the  _ reigning world champion _ , no less - in an internet article instead of from you personally,” Maxie chuffs, and she realizes with a start that he’s less angry with her and more-so pouting.

Lianna hesitates, then gives them a nervous grin, fingers fanning out energetically as she lifts both hands at the camera. “Surprise! I’m dating the reigning world champion! He’s...really nice and I think you both would like him. Please don’t interrogate him.”

Maxie and Archie exchange a glance. Archie speaks first, “Well, are ya gonna give us the deets, scamp? How did ya two meet?”

“You already know that,” Lianna starts.

Maxie interrupts her, “Of course, you realize that this means that we’re coming to Galar.”

“What? Dad, no.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure to give you plenty of space. We just...want to make sure this ‘Leon’ is as nice as you say. That he’s...safe.”

Lianna wants to bemoan her father’s helicopter parenting and call him overprotective and promptly remind him that she’s 24 years old and doesn’t need him to ward off any rogue would-be partners - but then she remembers that Maxie and Archie had only just met her when she was fresh out of her previous relationship, which had ended in five dead Pokemon, skin grafts to her back and thighs, a crime scene, a police investigation, and months of therapy. The only reason she had relocated to Hoenn to begin with was because of what had happened to her in Kanto and she needed to put an entire ocean of distance between her and the man who did this to her. Maxie and Archie had met her when she was at her worst.  _ Of course  _ they were a little overprotective of her. Although ‘a little’ might have been a massive understatement.

“Daddy,” she says, smiling faintly at her parents on the levitating phone screen as she props her chin up on one hand, “I appreciate the two of you looking out for me. You know I do. But...I think I can finally look out for myself. You don’t need to come to Galar. I’ll be home soon, anyways. And...if things work out between me and Leon, I’ll ask if he might like to come visit us in Alola and meet you two. If I ask him now, it’d be weird. We’ve only been dating for a few weeks. Let’s not rush it.”

Maxie visibly hesitates. She can see from his face, from the way his thick black brows screw together and deepen the wrinkles between them, that he’s conflicted.

“C’mon,” she says, “You know I’m right.”

“You know she’s right,” Archie backs her up, although there’s a certain mistiness to his eyes and he keeps forcibly pulling the corners of his lips back up into a smile and…

“Archie, don’t cry,” Lianna warns him, “If you cry, I’ll cry.”

“I won’t,” he says hoarsely, “But it’s hard watchin’ ya grow up, scamp.”

She smiles and hopes it looks reassuring, casting a glance over at Stickybun, who is now playing a game of keepaway with Popsicle. The little Snom is squawking at her unhappily. “I know it is.”

Maxie exhales slowly. Archie rests a hand on his slim shoulder and Maxie slowly reaches to take it, their fingers meshing together like a lock and a key. “You  _ are  _ right,” Maxie finally says, “I just don’t want to believe it. I know you can take care of yourself, Lianna. I trust your intuition. This Leon...he’s very lucky.”

“I...feel very lucky when I’m with him, too,” Lianna confesses and just saying it out loud - to her parents, no less - makes her blush.

Grinning, Archie laughs in that uproarious way of his that makes the screen shake. “Aww! Yer cute, scamp!”

“Just be careful, alright?” Maxie prompts.

“Always,” Lianna reassures him.

“I’m...I’m happy for you, Lianna,” he says, more earnestly than she’s expecting, and now it’s her turn to feel tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, drying them with her fingertips before they have the chance to fall, “I...wasn’t sure if you would ever want to see someone again. And we won’t always be here, so I...I didn’t want you to live your life alone.”

“If I can be half as happy with someone someday as you are with Archie,” she says, “then I’ll be very lucky, won’t I?”

Maxie smiles - a rare earnest smile, with none of that usual underlying sternness. “You will be.”

“I hope so,” Lianna says.

“I know so,” Maxie reassures her.

“Awright, scamp, we better let ya go before one o’ us starts cryin’,” Archie butts in, squeezing Maxie’s hand gently, “Say hello to yer boyfriend for us.”

“I will,” she says, dabbing lightly at the corners of her eyes behind her glasses, “Sticky says hello. She’s busy right now. Y’know, Goomy stuff.”

Maxie smiles as Archie slowly disappears from the frame, shouting at one of their Pokemon in the background, something to the effect of ‘get that out of your mouth.’

“Goodbye, Lianna. We’ll see you soon,” he says.

“Bye,” she replies with a nod, then hesitates before adding, “And Daddy?”

“Yes, Lianna?”

“You did good.”

The rare smile returns and he nods. “Thank you.”

She says goodbye a final time, hangs up, dries her tears, and immediately texts Leon.

> _ Congrats, champ. My dads officially approve of you. _
> 
> _ Do I live to battle another day? _
> 
> _ For now. <3 _


	13. Chapter 13

Leon is preoccupied with the ongoing gym challenge more often than not right now, but Lianna appreciates how he still makes a little time for her each day, usually spent texting or chatting contently on video call. But, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that he can’t stand to be away from her for very long and, not even three days after their seaside date in Hulbury, Leon invites her to meet him in Motostoke to watch Hop’s match against Kabu, the fire-type gym leader. She’s entirely too eager to accept, bringing Stickybun and Rosa along to watch the match.

One word from Leon is all it takes to land them the best seats in the house. Motostoke is a sprawling, heavily industrialized city that reeks of charcoal smoke and distant fire and its stadium is no less impressive than the rest of it. The challengers come forward to face Kabu at half-hour intervals and it isn’t Hop who’s challenging Kabu when they seat themselves, but Aisling - a pale, thin, red-headed little thing with a face that reminds Lianna of a much younger, much less weary Rosa. But, although she has the aesthetic of a waif about to drift off in a strong gust of wind, Aisling is anything but fragile. She obliterates Kabu’s team in an impressive fifteen minutes, half the usual time, her newly evolved Raboot felling his Gigantamax Centiskorch with the grace and ease of a much more experienced Pokemon.

“Impressive,” Leon comments from the stands, fingers tightly twined with Lianna’s. Somewhere behind them, a cell phone camera’s flashes as a particularly unsly fan snaps a photo of them with her head reclined on his shoulder, but she hardly notices or minds. The secret is already out.

“Yeah, really,” Rosa agrees wholeheartedly, “That little thing’s a beast.”

“Watch out, champ,” Lianna says, jokingly elbowing Leon in the ribs, “She’s coming for ya.”

Chuckling, Leon leans down to rub noses with Lianna and Rosa makes an exaggerated show of gagging at them, laughing. “Will you two chill with the PDA? Get a room already!”

“Hey! Rosa!” Lianna protests, pouting, with Stickybun crooning in her lap, “Just consider it payback for all those times I had to be the third wheel with you and your boyfriend.”

“Mine doesn’t try to suck my face off in public,” Rosa points out. They all laugh, before the lights over the bleachers dim once more as the next contestant comes to face Kabu.

Leon’s face lights up. It’s Hop.

But, it’s apparent almost instantly that something is very, very wrong. Hop holds his own in the battle with Kabu and ultimately emerges victorious, but this isn’t the Hop that all of them have seen face Milo and Nessa. He’s unenthusiastic, slow to react, and visibly upset about something, his thin little lips furrowed into a frown. It doesn’t suit him.

Lianna looks at Leon. He’s noticed, too, his brow creased with concern. She tightens her grasp on his hand as Hop deals the finishing blow and seals his victory, then scarcely stays to enjoy the applause and cheers from the audience before slinking away with his Thwackey.

“What’s wrong?” Lianna whispers against his ear.

“I don’t know,” Leon says, softly but urgently, before he rises from his seat and rushes off in a hurry, “I’ll see you in a few, okay? Okay!”

Lianna and Rosa watch him squeeze through the throes of other spectators, cheering excitedly when they see him, but he doesn’t seem to notice their cheers or applause, intent only on finding his younger brother. “I hope everything’s alright,” Lianna comments.

“That was weird,” Rosa agrees, “Hop is normally so upbeat and energetic. I’ve never even met the kid and even I know that wasn’t like him.”

“Did you want to stay and watch the rest of the matches?” Lianna asks, “I think Piers’ little sister is up next.”

“I wanna watch her,” Rosa says, “and that kid the chairman sponsored. I think those are the ones to watch right now.”

“You champion types are weird,” Lianna chuckles dryly, “You just  _ know _ the ones the moment you see them.”

Rosa snorts. “You say that like you wouldn’t know.”

Lianna laughs, but her gaze keeps drifting to the walkway below in search of Leon’s return, privately wondering if everything is okay. “Yeah, you’re right. They’re definitely the ones.”

* * *

Marnie and Bede emerge victorious, to no one’s surprise, and Lianna and Rosa decide to leave. The other matches are mostly uninteresting, although a few more challengers manage to defeat Kabu, while others fall defeated, unlikely to ever return and make it past this point. For some, their gym challenge ends today, sulking away with their little chins tucked in and their eyes watering and their dreams crushed, and Lianna is promptly reminded why she always hated this part of being champion, being the one responsible for those hurt feelings and broken hearts.

Lianna isn’t at all surprised when she finds Leon waiting for them in the lobby, dressed head-to-toe in athletic wear and that silly cape that’s only slightly starting to grow on her. Motostoke is a big city, after all, and it’s a lot harder to get lost in a one-room reception area than it is out on the streets. What does surprise her, however, is that Hop isn’t with him.

“Hey,” she says as she approaches with Sticky on her shoulder and Rosa trailing along somewhere slightly behind them, “Where’s Hop?”

Leon frowns, brow furrowed. “I couldn’t find him! He must have already left…”

“You should call him,” Lianna suggests.

“Oh, right, phones are a thing that exist and that I have,” Leon bumbles, flitting through his pockets for his Rotom phone to message Hop, “We should call him. I should call him.”

Lianna’s fingers gently flit across his shoulder. “Leon, calm down. I’m sure everything’s fine. Maybe Hop was just having an off day,” she tries to soothe him, but he’s clearly inconsolable, his message to Hop more autocorrected jibberish than actual sense.

Stickybun is suddenly alert on her shoulder, all four antennae standing upright. “Goom, Goom!”

“What is it, Sticky?” Lianna asks, following the Goomy’s gaze across the semi-crowded lobby, when she suddenly realizes what Sticky is looking at, “Oh! Aisling!”

“Aisling!” Leon perks up, pressing send on his sixth sporadic text message before he nearly trips over himself on his way over to the young trainer, dragging her attention away from her own phone. She looks up with what Lianna can only describe as a face of dread, but her eyes light up and she visibly relaxes when she realizes that it’s only Leon.

Lianna reaches to scratch Stickybun underneath her nonexistent chin, glancing worriedly between Leon and Rosa as Aisling says something to him, gesturing vaguely with her hands as she speaks. “Hope everything’s okay,” she muses quietly.

“Me too,” Rosa agrees, “I’m sure he was just having an off day, but it’s kinda sweet, isn’t it? How Leon worries about him?”

Lianna nods, smiling faintly. “Yeah. Yeah, it is. He’s a good guy.”

“And he likes kids,” Rosa adds pointedly.

Several moments pass before Lianna realizes the implications and elbows Rosa in the ribs with a, “Hey!” before Leon is jogging back over to them, shoulders slouching, as if that stupid cape is suddenly unreasonably heavy.

“What’s going on?” Lianna asks right away.

“He’s fine,” Leon says, “Seems he lost a battle to that Bede kid - y’know, the one Chairman Rose sponsored - and some hurtful things were said. Aisling says it’s got Hop in a bit of a rut and he’s in a real bad way right now, but she thinks he’ll get over it quickly. He usually does.” Still, his expression is worried, nervous. “I...just hope this doesn’t effect his gym challenge. He’s really been looking forward to this. That snotty brat shouldn’t be messing it up for him.”

“Ha, he  _ is  _ a snotty brat, ain’t he?” Rosa remarks, arms crossed over her chest.

“Poor Hop,” Lianna muses, “Did Aisling say anything else?”

“Just that Hop’s already on his way to Stow-on-Side to train before his next battle,” Leon surmises, sighing softly, “She said that Bede told him he was dragging my good name through the mud by being such a weak trainer. That isn’t true. Hop should  _ know  _ that. Even if he lost a thousand battles, I would still be just as proud of him.”

“Ugh,” Lianna remarks, “What an ass. Why are kids that age so mean?”

“You should mention it to the chairman,” Rosa suggests, smiling smugly, “Maybe Bede will learn to watch his smart mouth if his sponsor has a word about this with him.”

“Maybe I should,” Leon sighs, frowning. He’s still worried, Lianna knows, and she doesn’t blame him. He glances down at his phone, at the string of jumbled messages he sent to Hop. No response. “I guess I should give him some space.”

“Stow-on-Side is a good ways from here, but you could easily be there before nightfall if you wanted to see him,” Rosa points out.

Leon shakes his head. “No, he doesn’t need me breathing down his neck at every turn. He’s not a little kid anymore. He can handle himself. Doesn’t stop me from worrying, though. And besides…” His gaze slowly rises from the floor to meet Lianna’s, the faintest beginnings of a smile on his lips. “I was hoping to steal you away for the night, if you’re not busy.”

Rosa laughs. “You could have worded that better, champ.”

Lianna elbows her again, then looks at Lianna and smiles in a way that she hopes is reassuring. “I’m not. Rosa, are you okay going back to the house by yourself?”

The Alolan champion nods. “Of course.”

“Thanks, I’ll see ya later,” Lianna says.

“Later,” Rosa agrees, already on her way out the door to call herself a Corviknight cab.

Lianna turns to Leon. “Where to?”

“Oh, um…” Leon looks nervous again, but this time, Lianna senses it isn’t about Hop’s sudden shift in mood. He folds an arm behind his head, scratching an invisible itch on the back of his neck, and she sees the slightest trace of color in his cheeks. “Well...my mom wants to meet you. She saw everything in the paper and she’s  _ really  _ excited I finally met someone and I told her I thought it was too soon, but she’s -”

Lianna silences him with a finger to his lips, smiling faintly. “Leon, it’s okay. I’m flattered,” she reassures him, then glances down at her distressed denim jeans and crop top, flaunting the golden piercing that hooks through her navel, “Wish I would’ve dressed a little nicer, though. Jeez.”

“Goomy, Goom!” Stickybun interjects.

“Yeah, I know, I know, you  _ told me _ I should have worn the purple shirt today,” Lianna replies, rolling her eyes, “You were right. I should’ve listened.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Leon says, already reaching for her hand as he escorts her outside, the people gathered in the stadium lobby parting around them easily, to hail them a Corviknight cab, “She wants to meet you, not your clothes. She’s going to love you, Lee.”

Lianna exhales unsteadily, suddenly acutely aware of what’s happening. She’s  _ never  _ been taken home to meet someone’s parents, she’s barely even been in a relationship before now. “Oh, boy. I sure hope so.”

* * *

Postwick is a quaint little town in the southernmost region of Galar, photoesque and homey with its rolling landscape, all gentle hills dotted with wildflowers and picket fences and cute little white houses with colorful shutters. Lianna can see from the Corviknight cab that most of the surrounding area is open rolling farmland, speckled with flocks of what Leon tells her are Wooloo, a very common and very cute Pokemon that she’s quickly cooing over even from so high above them. Leon smiles and presses a kiss to her temple, right before the Corviknight lands them directly across from the train station.

A cobblestone pathway quickly turns to a dusty dirt road as the two walk, hand-in-hand, beyond the more populated parts of Postwick - if any part of it can be called very populated at all, Lianna sees no more than a dozen people between the train station and the outskirts of town, all bustling with excitement and eagerly waving when they spot Leon, who smiles and waves back - and into a small cluster of houses set high up on hills with stone stairs cut into the hillsides and well-manicured yards trimmed in picket fences. A few Wooloo bustle past, baaing softly, and Lianna smiles at them with glee, Stickybun cooing with interest from her shoulder.

Leon’s family lives in what looks like the southernmost house in Postwick, tucked between gently sloping hillsides, across from a nearly identical house that Lianna assumes belongs to Aisling’s family. He explains along the way that it’s only him, his mother, and Hop after his father passed away from illness when he was seven - which explains why Leon was so heavily involved in Hop’s upbringing. The two of them scale the stairs and start for the front door, but Leon’s mother is already outside the instant she spots them from the window, throwing her arms around her son’s neck and babbling excitedly.

“You came!” she says, squeezing him so tightly that he grunts in response, chuckling faintly as he hugs her back.

“Of course I did,” Leon tells her, gently wriggling away from her hug to reach for Lianna’s hands instead, bringing her forward. Lianna is so surprised that she almost stumbles, even though she knew in advance precisely why they came here. “Mum, this is Lianna! My girlfriend!”

Leon’s mother is a beautiful woman with an oval face framed on either side by dark locks of hair and pretty features. It’s easy to see where Leon gets his good looks from. She even has the same gentle gaze as her son, although her eyes are a soft brown color instead of Leon’s honey-amber. Everything about her, from her gentle face to her tender eyes to the way she’s dressed, beckons in a warm, friendly, motherly manner - something that Lianna’s mother distinctly lacked. It’s been years since Lianna has even heard from her, after her mother found out she had met her formerly runaway father in Hoenn and made amends with him. Lianna’s abuser is the reason she’s wary around men, but her mother is the reason she’s wary around  _ women  _ and generally distrustful, suddenly shy and dumbstruck in the face of Leon’s mother’s kindness until he squeezes her hand gently and pulls her out of it.

Lianna blinks, smiling in a way that she hopes comes across as anything but overtly awkward. “It’s nice to meet you, ma’am,” she says, because Maxie had instilled nothing in her over the years if not good manners. That is, when she isn’t around Rosa.

“It’s nice to meet ya, too, dear,” Leon’s mother says in a thick Galarian accent - which Leon has, albeit much more loosely - before bringing them inside, “Sit down, sit down! I’ve got dinner on the stove! Oh, and Bridgett’s over, hope you don’t mind, love!”

Lianna glances sideways at Leon questioningly as he leads her to a ragged but comfortable sofa in the front room, across from an old TV set that’s broadcasting the local news. Sounds like Postwick is expecting pleasant weather in the coming week, like always. He sits down, pulling her into his arms as he reclines comfortably, but not before she takes a moment to set Stickybun down on the splintered hardwood floor. “Aisling’s mother,” he explains, “She’s my mum’s best friend.”

Lianna can hear the two women in question chatting and giggling in the nearby kitchen. The entire house smells good, like something savory and delicious, but she would rather smell Leon’s woodsy cologne, burrowing her face against his well-muscled chest. “She seems so sweet.”

“She is,” Leon agrees, grinning as he flops backwards onto a deflated old throw pillow, bringing her down with him to lay sprawled across his chest, “She can be a bit...much, so I hope you’re prepared. But don’t worry, she’s going to absolutely adore you.”

Lianna hides a smile in his chest, peering up at him through her glasses lenses. “So, this is where the Undefeatable Champion Leon grew up, hmm?”

“Sure did,” he muses, closing his eyes as he threads his fingers through her hair. Something about this feels much more intimate than all the other times they’ve spent together, closer and cozier than the wild area or the stadiums or even the restaurant in Hulbury. Lianna has missed the warmth of just laying against him and cuddling him, without another care in the world.

“I don’t know why, but I was expecting something really fancy,” she chuckles as she draws circles on his pec with one finger, tracing the shape of the graphic on his tight-fitting athletic shirt, “Most of the champions I know...well, came from money and live in big fancy houses, practically mansions. All but Rosa and...me, if I still count.”

Leon chuckles, bemused. “Not me. I’m just some normal guy from the little town of Postwick.”

“I know,” Lianna purrs against his throat, her own eyes drifting closed, “That’s part of why I like you so much. You  _ are  _ just a normal guy, who happens to be champion and didn’t let it turn him into a conceited asshole.”

Leon’s chest shakes with laughter that Lianna can hear rattling in his ribs. “Something tells me you didn’t get on very well with the other champs.”

“I didn’t,” she concedes, giggling softly, “It never suited me. Not the way it does you.”

“Hmm?” he hums, one arm wrapped loosely around her waist while his other hand plays with her hair. It’s soft, a rich shade of burgundy.

“You just...light up, when you’re in the stadium. You battle as easily as you breathe, like it’s just second nature to you. And when you’re there, the stadium lights up, too. People love you,” she elaborates, “The attention doesn’t bother you the way it did me.”

Lianna cracks an eye open to glimpse his comfortable smile and the way his brows are so relaxed. He looks terribly cute, earning him a gentle peck on the tip of his nose and a giggle from her. He smiles wider, then prompts, “Lee?”

“Hmm?”

“Did you really just quit being champion because it wasn’t what you wanted?” he asks, one eye opening to look at her sleepily, gauging her reaction. She feels his hand tighten on her waist, the weight of his arm around her the most comforting thing in the world. “There was something else, wasn’t there?”

“There was,” Lianna says, eyes flitting around the room anxiously. The wallpaper is yellowed and old, she notices, and Stickybun has found herself a comfortable place to take a nap - on a folded blanket beside the ugliest, fluffiest Meowth Lianna has ever seen. “I said it before, the attention...I couldn’t handle the attention. Because the attention was making me...too easy to find, too easy to follow. You understand, don’t you?”

Leon opens his other eye, suddenly frowning sternly. “You mean to tell me he isn’t in prison?”

Lianna shrugs. “I don’t know, to be honest. Kanto is known for its incredibly lax court system, I was never even called to testify. I just moved to Hoenn and hoped that was the end of it. It wasn’t.”

Leon’s arm tightens around her. “Oh, Lee…”

“It was my own fault,” she sighs, frowning softly, her eyes trailing away, to look at something a thousand miles away, “I should have known that, by becoming champion, I was inviting the general public into my life. Including him. He knew where I was and, a few months later, I thought I saw him watching me on the street. I was willing to believe it was just someone who looked like him at first, just a coincidence. But then, it kept happening, and I realized it wasn’t just my imagination. He was really there. Watching me.”

Leon stops her with a kiss to her forehead. “Well, if he ever shows up here, he better hope he’s faster than my Charizard.”

And, in spite of herself, Lianna smiles, but it’s short-lived. “The attention was bad for other reasons, too. My dads were...well, they weren’t always good people. But, when it came down to it, both of them were willing to change to protect me and to protect the people of Hoenn, so the courts went easy on them. Once we were all finally together, I never wanted us to be apart again, not ever, and being champion...it brought my family under a lot of scrutiny. A lot of people said I had them pardoned somehow because I was champion. It was just...hard, being in the spotlight all the time, and I decided that leaving it behind really was for the better.”

Leon smiles warmly. “I understand exactly what you mean. I’ve been champion since I was twelve. It was...hard, being that young and adjusting to the spotlight, not getting to be a kid anymore. Not getting to be with my family. Missing out on so much of Hop’s life because of my duties as champion. It was...it  _ is  _ pretty depressing, sometimes. I love it. But I love Hop and my mum more, you know?”

“Yeah,” Lianna says, her eyes meeting Leon’s in mutual understanding as he leans forward to kiss him on the forehead, “I do know. Like I said, it wasn’t what I really wanted.”

“What did you really want?” Leon asks, curious.

Lianna smiles. “My family, of course.”

Leon quirks a brow and grins. “Anything else?”

Laughing, Lianna cups his cheek, grinning right back at him. “Yeah. You.”

Dinner with Leon’s mother (and neighbor, who Leon says joins them quite frequently and is basically a second mother to him and Hop) is better than Lianna ever could have expected. The four of them sit around a comfortable table in the kitchen - something Lianna has seldom done in her life, more often eating meals slouching on the sofa or at her desk in her bedroom back home - chatting cheerily, the conversation mostly consisting of Leon and his mother talking about Hop and his gym challenge, although their discussions frequently turn to Lianna as well. Leon’s mother asks her questions, none of them prodding, and she answers, always smiling politely, for a reason she doesn’t understand until she realizes that she’s massively hungry for this woman’s approval. She  _ wants  _ her to like her, not only because of her relationship with Leon, but perhaps because she never had it from her own mother back in Kanto.

About halfway through their meal, Lianna realizes that Aisling’s mother - Bridgett, Leon had called her - is watching her in a funny way, glancing away quickly when Lianna catches her gaze. Lianna finds it odd, but ignores it, delving back into conversation with Leon and his mother, until she catches her eye again, clearing her throat pointedly. Bridgett’s eyes dart away again. She’s hardly said a word the entire meal.

Bridgett’s strange behavior continues even after dinner, when Lianna joins her and Leon’s mother on the swing hanging from the front porch outside, watching as the sunset settles over the rolling breezy hills of Postwick, while Leon washes dishes inside. She remains eerily quiet and Lianna keeps catching her watching her, until she’s beginning to feel uncomfortable. Leon’s mother seems to notice, too, asking her if everything’s okay, to which Bridgett only says she’s fine and glances away from them again.

Leon comes outside to join them, carrying Sticky on one arm. “Here, Lee, someone misses you!” he announces, sitting the Goomy down in her lap before he takes a seat beside her.

Lianna smiles, Stickybun cooing at her delightedly. “Aww, Sticky, did you think I forgot about you? There’s Meowth fur stuck to you, you know.” She chuckles, picking a few stray strands of coarse gray hair off of the Goomy’s sticky damp skin.

“Aww, what a cute little Goomy!” Leon’s mother coos. Stickybun visibly inflates with pride and Lianna laughs.

“Don’t make her ego any bigger than it already is,” she says, to which Sticky protests with a chirp. Leon laughs, patting her on her slimy head.

“So, Lianna, has Leon talked ya into a battle yet? I understand yer quite the trainer yerself, ya used to be champion over in Hoenn,” Leon’s mother asks, “I saw it on the telly, they even showed some o’ ya old matches!”

“Oh, jeez,” Lianna chuckles, “Hope they weren’t too terrible to watch. I know battles in Hoenn are a lot different than the ones here, and I’m not nearly as interesting to watch as Leon.”

“Nonsense,” Leon protests, throwing an arm around her shoulders and bringing her in close, “Lee and I battled the first night we met! She’s a beast!” He throws a fist in the air for emphasis, grinning like an idiot, and Lianna can’t help but laugh.

“If I’m such a beast, then why did I lose, hmm?” she prompts.

“Well, to be fair, I was in full athletic gear and you were in high heels,” he chuckles, leaning forward to press his forehead to hers, “and you still almost beat me!”

“As if a burnt out old champ from Hoenn could ever best the undefeatable champion,” she teases him, and they both laugh, not because it was particularly funny but because they’re having so much fun just being together, existing in each other’s bubble.

The conversation dies down as the sun sets and the stars become visible in the twilit sky, the half-moon shedding silvery light down on them. Stickybun has since slithered into Leon’s lap and is purring wetly while he scratches around her four antennae, while Leon blushes from his mother’s most recent embarrassing childhood story and Lianna leans on his shoulder and laughs in delight. Bridgett, who has remained mostly silent the entire time, finally rises and starts for the stairs, commenting, “I suppose I should be going now. Goodnight, Dawn, Leon, Stickybun. Lianna, would you mind walking with me?”

Startled, Lianna lifts her head from Leon’s shoulder and looks at the woman in stark surprise. The woman who has spent the entire evening being awkwardly quiet and staring at her when she thinks she isn’t looking...wants her to walk her home? She can’t possibly imagine why, but shrugs and stands up. “Sure,” she agrees, glancing down at Leon and smiling, “Be right back. Watch Sticky for me?”

“Of course,” Leon says.

Quietly, Bridgett walks off, with Lianna trailing along awkwardly behind her. She understands not wanting to walk alone at night, but Postwick hardly seems like a dangerous town, with a bigger population of friendly Wooloo than people.

Once the two are out of earshot, Bridgett pauses and looks at Lianna. “I’m sorry, I must have made you feel terribly awkward. I didn’t want to say anything in front of Dawn and Leon.”

Lianna arches a brow, suddenly curious. “What?”

“You’re here with Champion Rosa, aren’t you? You’re her friend, yes?”

Lianna nods. “Yeah, I am. Why?”

“Because I need you,” Bridgett says, “to deliver a message for me.”

When Lianna isn’t back in half an hour, Leon starts to worry, although he doesn’t know why: Lianna is an adult and can more than handle herself, especially in a town like Postwick, especially with a Pokemon like her Manectric tucked into its ball in her pocket. But, if she wasn’t in trouble, what could possibly be taking so long? Stickybun croons in his lap, not concerned, but annoyed that her trainer has left her behind with this total loser for more than five minutes. His mother has already gone inside, getting ready for bed. The Corviknight cabs don’t come to Postwick this late and Charizard doesn’t like flying at night, so he supposes they’re staying here for the night.

Leon is about to go looking for her when Lianna appears at the top of the stairs. He can’t tell right away from her body language that something is amiss, straightening up on the porch swing while Stickybun calls out to her trainer.

“Lee!” he calls, smiling warmly as she sits back down beside him, sighing heavily, “What’s...is something wrong?”

Lianna leans her head back, tipping it backwards, and frowns. “Sorry I was gone so long, I had to call Rosa.”

Leon’s brow creases. “Is everything okay? Did something happen?”

“No, nothing’s wrong, but it was an unexpected surprise. I’m not upset, but I’m a little worried. About Rosa, that is.”

“Why?” Leon asks worriedly, “What was a surprise?”

Lianna looks at him. “Aisling is Rosa’s sister.”

Leon answers with a confused scoff.

“Yeah, I know, I thought the two of ‘em looked alike, but I thought it was just a coincidence, people look alike all the time,” she says, “That’s why Bridgett was so antsy tonight. She wasn’t expecting to see me here, but she wanted to talk to me. She said she didn’t think Rosa would believe it coming from her, a complete stranger, so she wanted to tell me first. I called Rosa and let them talk on videochat.”

“Rosa’s so much older than Aisling,” Leon comments.

“Rosa’s dad is a piece of shit,” Lianna replies, not bothering to conceal her venom, “Rosa’s got a little sister in Kalos that she practically raised, and now it turns out her dad has another kid here in Galar. Bastard gets around. But, anyways, Bridgett wanted Aisling to have the opportunity to meet Rosa, and Rosa agreed. So, they’re gonna try to arrange something.”

“Wow,” Leon says, exhaling. This is a lot to take in. “So...Aisling and Hop  _ both  _ have champion blood. Jeez, the competition’s gonna be fierce this year.”

Lianna sighs up at the stars. “I just hope Rosa doesn’t take it the wrong way, y’know? She takes it personally, how her dad just ran off on her and her little sister. And now she knows that he did that to  _ another  _ kid, too. She’s gonna try to take responsibility for him, for Aisling.”

Leon looks at her, smiling reassuringly. “Well...if it’s any consolation, I think Aisling will like having an older sister, even if she’ll be back in another region at the end of the month.”

Lianna frowns. “Right…”

“C’mon,” Leon says, standing up with Stickybun tucked underneath his arm, “Let’s get some sleep. The water pressure in my bathroom is  _ really  _ nice.”

Reluctantly, Lianna rises and follows him inside, up a flight of splintered wooden stairs to a small bedroom tucked into the corner of the hallway. Leon pauses at the room before his, peering at the empty bed almost sadly. “I hope Hop’s okay…,” he muses.

A reassuring hand falls on his shoulder, squeezing gently. “I’m sure he will be. He’s strong. Like you,” Lianna says.

Leon smiles, then flicks the lights on in his bedroom. “Sorry, this place is, uh...like a time capsule,” he chuckles, visibly embarrassed. He’s right, the room looks like it belongs to a much younger inhabitant, with a twin-sized bed dressed in blue and white sheets, a bookshelf filled with training manuals and guides to raising Pokemon, and a poster of Galar’s former champion on the far wall. There’s a dead plant in a pot on the window sill, behind a yellowed old curtain, and a few cardboard boxes with labels written in permanent marker stacked in the corner. His desk, which houses an ancient old monitor and keyboard, is scattered with action figures and models of Pokemon - mostly Charizards. “I’m not home much. When I left, my mom never changed a thing.”

But, Lianna only smiles, pecking him on the cheek. “It’s sweet. She’s trying to keep you little.”

Leon sits Sticky down on the bed, glancing back at her over his shoulder. “Huh?”

“Every good parent does,” Lianna chuckles, absentmindedly pulling her flannel off her shoulders, with only a skimpy little white crop top underneath, golden piercing glinting in her navel, “She didn’t want you to grow up. My dads didn’t want me to, either.”

Smiling, Leon walks over to his dresser and rummages around for something that might even  _ begin  _ to fit Lianna, and she doesn’t miss how his gaze flickers down at her exposed cleavage for a hot second before flitting away again. “You talk about your dads a lot, Lee. But, y’know, I’ve never heard you talk about your mum.”

She shrugs as he tosses her an oversized tee shirt and a pair of pajama pants with a drawstring, which she already knows are going to be much too big for her. “It’s a weird situation. I was an accident and my mom thought of me as a burden. She took care of me and I loved her, sure, but when she found out that I had  _ met  _ the guy who ditched her with me for all those years and I actually  _ liked  _ him, she just...kinda never spoke to me again.”

Leon frowns, digging through the drawer for a pair of pajamas for himself. “Doesn’t that...hurt?”

“Of course it does,” Lianna says, “But I also understand. I wasn’t what she wanted, and I love the man who did that to her. So, I decided to just...give her some space. Maybe she’ll come around someday. But, if she doesn’t...it’s okay.”

“Is it?”

“Doesn’t matter if it does,” she says with a shrug, frowning, “You can’t force someone to love you. Trust me. I...tried, once.”

He hesitates, then softly asks, “Him?”

She nods. “Yeah.”

Leon frowns. “You’ve...kinda had a shitty life, haven’t you?” Immediately, he raises both hands in surrender and adds, “S-Sorry, I didn’t meant it like that, I just meant...you’ve been through so much. And yet...you’re still so strong. Kinda makes my problems look just...petty.”

Lianna straightens, looking directly at him, with an assertiveness in her steady gaze that Leon hasn’t seen there before. “I have. But, those were the circumstances I was dealt and I can’t control them. What I can control is who I am now, and I chose to be happy in spite of it all. It’s hard sometimes, sure. But, I don’t want to live my entire life in shame and fear. Not anymore.” Her gaze softens and she smiles, a hand rising to gently cup his cheek. “And...your problems aren’t petty, babe. Your problems are never petty. Problems are problems, no matter how big they are or aren’t. It isn’t the suffering olympics.”

Smiling, Leon replies, “You’re very wise for your age, aren’t you?”

She laughs. “I wish.”

“Bathroom’s down the hall, first door on the left,” he tells her, “I’m gonna go use my mum’s bathroom downstairs, meet you back here in a few.”

Lianna takes Sticky with her to shower, the Goomy loitering cheerily by the drain while Lianna washes her hair with Leon’s shampoo, recognizing the woodsy smell from his hair. She smiles as she rinses it, Sticky protesting as she turns off the water and steps out, finding a towel to dry herself off on. She was fortunate enough to have a spare change of underwear in her satchel from her days of  _ getting around _ and never knowing when she might need them, a flattering pair of baby pink boy shorts that she slips on underneath Leon’s baggy shirt, emblazoned with a Pokemon League logo and a date from a few years back. What would cling tightly to Leon’s broad shoulders and beautifully built chest hangs off of Lianna like a tablecloth and she laughs at herself as she brushes her hair in the mirror, before fishing an adamantly protesting Stickybun out of the bathtub and patting her dry.

She can hear the other shower running downstairs as she walks down the hall to Leon’s bedroom, sitting Stickybun down on the bed and checking her phone. Her only notifications are a goodnight message from Maxie, which she answers promptly, and a few junk emails from shopping sites she’s bought from in the past few months, advertising the latest sales. She sends Rosa a quick message.

> _ Sleeping over at Leon’s, don’t wait up for me! _
> 
> _ Why am I not surprised? _

Rosa’s next message is a string of emojis: an eggplant, a fisted hand, and a spread of three water droplets. Lianna scoffs, but doesn’t have time to answer her before Leon is walking in, dressed in baggy pajama bottoms and an old tee shirt - with a towel wrapped around his head, containing his back-length hair.

Lianna is instantly giggling. “That’s a good look for you, handsome.”

Grinning, Leon tosses the towel off of his head, his hair a wet, deflated mess of slick tangles. “Everything is a good look for - you don’t have any pants on.” He stops short, eyes widening, cheeks blazing, and Lianna laughs.

“Sorry, champ, your pants were way too big for me,” she chuckles, bemused, leaning slightly to one side to let her shirt tail rise, exposing a swathe of smooth bare thigh and the outer edge of her underwear, “But, don’t worry. I have a strict policy of not going down on anybody while their mama’s in the other room. Or while Sticky is watching.”

Leon’s cheeks darken. “You, um...look nice,” he says, before his eyes flit away, his hands busying themselves fetching a brush from his nightstand drawer. 

Oh, he’s so innocent, so sweet. He’s going to be so much  _ fun _ when she decides it’s time to make her move on him. But, not tonight, not with his mother asleep in the room just underneath them and definitely not with Stickybun refereeing from the foot of the bed. “Thanks, champ. C’mere.”

Leon’s embarrassment is fortunately short-lived as he sits on the bed, criss-cross applesauce, and lets Lianna take the brush from his hands, working it through his wet hair gently, carefully teasing out the tangles. When it’s mostly smooth, she sets the brush aside and starts to play with it with her hands instead. It’s so soft, flowing through her fingers like rich violet silk. He hums as her nails scratch lightly along his scalp, fingertips dusting over the shell of his ear. “Feels good,” he muses, and she can see the corner of his smile from where she’s seated behind him.

Something about this feels special, and Lianna doesn’t know why. It shouldn’t, she’s just sitting in Leon’s childhood bedroom while she plays with his hair and he smiles at her and hums a tune that she doesn’t recognize, horribly off-key. But, it does. Something about this moment makes her chest burn, her breath flutter, her gaze soften. Leon is so painfully sweet, with how he reclines his head backwards to smile at her and rest the back of his head against her chest, those honey-golden eyes watching her oh-so-softly.

She closes her eyes, leans down, and kisses him.

Lianna has been, bluntly put, a slut for most of her adulthood. She’s done things that are, for all intents and purposes, far more intimate than this. But she can’t remember the last time she’s done this, the last time she kissed someone, and never has it ever meant something.

Leon doesn’t seem at all startled, meeting her lips halfway. He’s inexperienced, Lianna notices from how he moves his mouth clumsily against hers, or perhaps it’s just the awkward angle - her own fault for choosing to kiss him upside-down. But, it’s short-lived, with Leon quickly pulling away, so he can turn around, wrap his arms around her, and kiss her in earnest.

There’s no teeth, no tongue, no grunting and groaning, the way Lianna is used to. There’s only Leon’s soft, full lips working steadily against hers for half a minute, the scent of him in her nose, the feel of his hands stroking gently at her sides, almost tickling her but not quite. When she comes away, she’s smiling, their foreheads instantly meeting as he reflects the affectionate gaze she hopes is visible in her own eyes.

Leon’s eyes are beautiful, more than she’s ever noticed before. The color of honey, golden and deep, and focused only on her. Something tightens in her chest.

She loves him.

Oh Arceus, she loves him.

She wants to tell him. She needs him to know. But, then, his arm is sweeping her up against him as he brings them both down on their sides on the mattress, letting go only long enough to fumble for the blanket to pull over them while Lianna places her glasses on the nightstand. Stickybun squeaks softly as she slithers to the head of the bed, where she finds herself a comfortable place to the right of Lianna. Then, Leon’s arms are around her once more, holding her tight, so close that she can hear the steady thumping of his heartbeat in his chest. He’s firm, all hard muscle and taut tendon, and oh-so-warm, but the instant her head settles against him, she realizes that she never wants to use a pillow ever again.

“Goodnight, Lee,” he whispers against her ear, reaching to turn the lamp off.

“Night, babe,” she says softly as the room descends into darkness. He’s tired, nuzzling his face against the top of her head as he closes his eyes, already half-asleep. He must be stressed, she thinks, with the ongoing gym challenge and the recent power outage and the chairman breathing down his neck all the time. But right now, with his eyes closed beneath the crescents of his dark lashes and his lips just slightly ajar and his breathing steady against her, he’s relaxed and perfect and the most beautiful man in the world. And he’s  _ hers _ .

She’ll tell him another night.

But, by Arceus, she’s going to tell him. 


	14. Chapter 14

Sunlight filters through the once-white curtains hanging over the window, speckled with several years’ worth of dust and cobwebs. Leon looks even more attractive with the sunny yellow light highlighting his handsome features in pale gold, Lianna thinks as she lays quietly beside him and idly plays with his hair, her other arm stretched across his chest. It’s comfortably warm here in bed with Leon and, as she lays there beside him, she thinks that perhaps she’s never been happier.

Stickybun is snoring softly but wetly on the other side of Lianna’s head, startling when Leon’s phone suddenly begins to ring. Leon jumps, too, springing awake and scrambling to grab it and answer it. “Hello? Rose? Oh, I’m so sorry, sir, I’ll be there right away! I just, uh, forgot! Yeah, yeah, it won’t happen again! Right, bye!”

Leon is trying to scramble away when Lianna promptly drags him back down, pulling him into a full-bodied hug from behind. “Somebody miss a meeting, champ?” she croons against his ear, kissing him on the cheek.

He smiles, chuckling nervously, and says, “Sure did. Forgot all about it. Guess we should head back to Wyndon before I miss something _else_ Rose has on the agenda for me today.”

Lianna plants a final kiss on his cheek before she lets him get up, Stickybun grumbling crankily behind her at being woken up so suddenly - and so loudly, Leon’s Rotom phone sounded like it was set to max volume. Reluctantly, Lianna leaves the comfortable warmth of Leon’s bed, just as Leon tugs his shirt off over his head and reaches for a clean athletic shirt, flashing her an impeccable view of his gorgeously sculpted back and shoulders.

Leon blushes when Lianna whistles at him, chuckling at her over his shoulder. “See something you like, babe?”

“You know it,” she replies, before hitting him in the back of the head with his own wadded-up tee shirt. Leon’s cheeks darken further at the sight of her in nothing but a sports bra and underwear, hideously mismatched, but anything would look good on her. She bends over to retrieve her clothes from the previous day from her bag and he forces himself to pry his eyes away before he embarrasses himself.

Lianna is trying to smooth a wrinkle out of yesterday’s crop top when she’s hit in the back with another shirt. It’s one of Leon’s, this one a black muscle shirt emblazoned with a graphic of a Charizard spitting fire. She smiles, pulling it over her head; it’s so big that she’s practically swimming in it, the sleeves dipping down low enough underneath her arms that the sides of her sports bra are highly visible, but she doesn’t mind, bunching the bottom hem of it up until it’s flush against her slender abdomen and tying the excess fabric in a knot. Now, it’s Leon’s turn to whistle and make an exaggerated show of kissing the air at her, until she sweeps in for a quick kiss before retreating to the nearby bathroom to pull her hair up in a sloppy ponytail, her bangs hanging in her face despite her best efforts.

Leon slips in beside her to brush his teeth, before offering her his toothbrush. “You’re gross,” she teases him before taking it to brush her own teeth, while Stickybun looks at them in clear disgust from the faded tiled floor, Lianna mumbling through a mouthful of foam, “Look, even Sticky thinks you’re gross.”

“Goom!” Sticky exclaims, sticking her tongue out at them. Lianna laughs, spits, and rinses her mouth, while Leon heads back to the bedroom to gather their things - including Lianna’s glasses, which he walks in while wearing.

“ _How_ do you see out of these, Lee?” he demands to know, squinting at himself in the mirror.

Lianna snatches them off his face, putting them on. “I was blessed with my father’s unfortunate vision,” she chuckles, before giving him a _minty fresh_ peck on the lips. He smiles and nuzzles faces with her, prompting more protesting sounds from Sticky until Lianna finally stoops and picks her up. “Is someone a little jealous?”

“Goom, Goom!”

“Don’t worry, Sticky,” Lianna chuckles, looking at Leon pointedly, “He’s cute, but definitely not as cute as you.”

Laughing, Leon pats her on the head. “She’s right, Sticky. I could never hope to compete.”

Their morning shenanigans are unfortunately cut short when Leon’s phone pings, reminding him that he’s wanted in Wyndon. He sighs, handing Lianna her bag, and leads them downstairs, where he and Lianna spend another twenty minutes saying goodbye to his mother before stepping outside. Charizard takes them back to Wyndon, which takes another half hour despite the fire dragon’s agility and speed in the mid-morning sunshine, landing them directly in front of Rose Tower. It’s a dizzyingly tall mountain of a skyscraper, its wall all glinting metal and smooth glass edges with darkened windows. Frankly, it gives Lianna the creeps, but she figures that’s only because she’s already established that she doesn’t like Chairman Rose.

Leon slides off of Charizard’s back after Lianna, thanks it, and returns it to its Pokeball. Then, he turns to Lianna, sweeping her up in his arms and shamelessly peppering her face with kisses right there in the street, where at least one bystander with a cellphone is guaranteed to see it. But, Lianna finds that she no longer cares. Leon is _hers_ , let the entire world see it. She giggles as he smothers her in the most comfortable way, before gently pushing him away. “Thanks for the ride, champ. I had a great time.”

“We should do it again sometime,” Leon agrees, hands resting idly on Lianna’s hips like he can’t keep his hands off of her.

“Back to your champion duties, handsome,” she teases, giving him one last hug before she goes, “I’ll see you soon. Text me lots.”

“I will,” Leon says and, reluctantly, the two part ways for now, Lianna retreating back to the rental home where Stickybun promptly chews her out in gibberish for keeping her in her Pokeball for so long (it had been less than an hour) and Rosa proceeds to tease Lianna about sex that didn’t happen.

* * *

Despite Leon’s promise to text her often, Lianna seldom hears from him in the next week and a half, but she doesn’t blame him. The gym challenge is hectic with challengers facing the creepy little masked kid named Allister in Stow-on-Side and the elderly fairy-type gym leader Opal in Ballonlea. Chairman Rose’s sponsored challenger, Bede, is unexpectedly disqualified midway in-between the two gyms for defacing public property (precisely what he deserved, Lianna thinks, after the way he spoke to Hop). Leon is a little bit of everywhere, appearing for interviews, attending meetings, running glorified errands for Rose. She knows from their few text message exchanges that he’s stretched thin and beyond stressed, which seems to be the usual this time of year, an unfortunate side effect of Galar’s gym challenge being such a big deal not only to its own region, but worldwide. 

Not to mention that this year’s challenge comes with reporters being extra nosy, prodding Leon for more information about his relationship with Lianna Everton, but he never divulges much more than is already known. Although Lianna has to admit, seeing the way his eyes light up and his smile brightens when someone mentions her to him in one of his interviews (which she always watches on TV) warms her heart in a way she doesn’t expect. Still, she reminds herself, it’s unnecessary added stress on him and she should feel rightfully guilty.

And then there are the power outages. Lianna knows from the news coverages that there have been intermittent outages in Turffield, Hulbury, Ballonlea, Circhester, and even Postwick. Outages have delayed schedules in the resident train stations and Leon tells her in passing, sounding strained on their phone call, that Spikemuth has consistently been without power for going on a month. This, she can tell, is especially stressful to him, but she isn’t sure why. He’s the champion, not the chairman, not even the chairman’s assistant. He’s a trainer, not a government official, and definitely not someone who would even know where to begin when it came to a region-wide power shortage. It’s strange. She mentions it to Maxie several times during their nearly nightly calls, while Archie shouts loudly about something in the background every time without fail, and he promises to look into it as much as he can without approaching Galar’s government about it himself. He tells her that he doubts they would want help from an ex-criminal who had been showcased as a borderline maniac by the media not so very long ago, and she knows in her heart that, as much as she hates it, he’s right.

And worse still, there have been peculiar happenings across Galar recently, with Dynamax Pokemon appearing in the wild outside of the wild area, the only place where the phenomenon was previously known to occur outside of stadiums and other places with designated power spots. Once, it even happened while Leon was checking in with Hop and Aisling, and it was fortunate that he was closeby enough to stop it before any major damage was done to the nearby towns. If it had only happened once, perhaps Lianna could have dismissed it as an oddity, but it kept happening. Twice, three times, four…

Leon is stressed.

Lianna wants to help, but she isn’t sure how. Does he need his space? Does he need her attention? She sighs, sinking down into the sofa cushions and glancing idly up from her phone to watch the TV for a few seconds. There’s a news broadcast on and there’s been another outage in Circhester - where the next gym in the gym challenge is, set to begin in only two days. Even with her relatively minor investment in the event, Lianna knows this is bad news.

Rosa glances at her from the kitchen table, where she’s scrolling through her Rotom phone while Popsicle the Snom lounges in a literal bucket full of ice from the freezer, as if it weren’t cold enough outside for him already. “Sounds bad, huh?”

“Real bad,” Lianna agrees, putting her phone down to pay attention to the newscast while Stickybun dozes on her chest, blissfully unaware of anything going on outside of colorful Goomy dreams, “I’m worried about Leon.”

“Yeah, I have to say, even for a champion, this is a lot to take in,” Rosa says, “I’ve never had to deal with anything like this back in Alola. But then again, I haven’t been champion for very long.”

“Yeah, but why is Leon responsible for handling it to begin with?” Lianna wonders aloud, “He’s the champion, a trainer. He isn’t an electrician or a specialist on coal energy. Doesn’t that bastard chairman own the coal mines? Shouldn’t _he_ be doing something about this?”

“I have no idea,” Rosa surmises, “But you’re right, it’s weird. Leon obviously doesn’t know anything about this. Guess the chairman and his lackeys just want Leon to talk about it since he’s like...a trusted public image here. Or something.”

Lianna sighs, glancing down at her phone again. “Guess so,” she muses, then decides to change the subject to something hopefully less bleak, “How are things with Aisling?”

Initially, Bridgett’s revelation that Aisling is Rosa’s half-sister had been a shock. Rosa didn’t know how to respond at first. She wasn’t angry, but part of her was upset, disappointed that her deadbeat father had sired yet another child in another region and then left her mother behind without a word, leaving yet another woman struggling with a daughter she wasn’t prepared to raise. But, Bridgett had done well: Aisling was mostly well-mannered, at least in public, but had the same wildly rude streak and stubborn nature as Rosa. Now that it was laid out in front of her, Lianna doesn’t know how she didn’t figure it out on her own; they’re so much alike, it’s almost scary. Once she knew about it, Rosa wanted to meet Aisling personally. She wanted to be there for her, the way she was for her other sister, and reassured her that, even if she was a region away, she could be there in a jiffy if Aisling ever needed her. Rosa had always been protective of what she deemed hers in that way, for as long as Lianna had known her and then some.

“Things are good,” Rosa says, “Aisling’s funny. She has a lot of spunk for a kid that age, and she really knows what she’s doing when she battles. Color me impressed, but maybe I’m just biased now that I know we’re related.”

“Your dad might be a worthless shitbag,” Lianna muses, scrolling through her own phone now, “but I don’t know what it is in him that keeps fathering such badass trainers.”

Rosa chuckles. “Guess so, but that’s the only good thing that ever came outta him.”

“Bullshit,” Lianna says, glancing up from her phone to smile at Rosa over the back of the sofa, “That piece of shit gave me you.”

And, in spite of herself, Rosa smiles, too. 

The following morning, Lianna wakes up in a certain _mood_. 

Popsicle and Stickybun are peacefully sleeping in a squishy, gooey tangle on the spare pillow across from her when she decides to text Leon.

> _Hope things are okay. I miss you._
> 
> _Are you busy tonight?_

She sighs, chin rested on her pillow, and doesn’t expect a response for another few hours with how the chairman and his people have been running Leon so ragged recently. But, to her surprise, her phone pings back almost right away with a response.

> _I miss you, too._
> 
> _And I’m not now, I cleared my schedule just for you. <3 _

Lianna smiles. He really is sweet.

> _Can I come over? <3 _
> 
> _Of course. I’ll be home around six tonight. <3 _
> 
> _See you then. <3 _

Reluctantly, Lianna leaves the warmth of her bed and braves the mid-morning chill of the bedroom to gather a few things, packing her satchel with a change of clothes and some toiletries. Stickybun opens one eye to watch her as she starts to get ready, dressing in a sweater with a neckline that sweeps low enough to show her cleavage and a pair of particularly tight-fitting pants. She hasn’t dedicatedly worn makeup in years, but indulges in a rare flush of eyeliner over her lids, ending in a small wing that she spends a solid fifteen minutes straightening up until both eyes are somewhat symmetrical. Then, Lianna leaves Popsicle and Stickybun to sleep while she walks into the kitchen, where Rosa is busily making some very asymmetrical pancakes.

Lianna immediately falls in beside her to help. “I need a favor,” she says after a moment.

“Good morning to you, too,” Rosa snorts good-naturedly, but she’s grinning.

“Could you watch Sticky for me tonight?” Lianna asks, nipping at her own lower lip.

Rosa laughs. “I knew it. Of course I can.”

“Thanks,” Lianna says, pausing to grab the remote off the arm of the sofa and turn the morning newscast on, “Have you heard if the power’s back on in Circhester yet? The challengers are supposed to be there tomorrow.”

“It’s back on,” Rosa replies, smile faltering, “I heard it on the news earlier. Let’s just hope it holds until the challengers are finished tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Lianna remarks bitterly, “Let’s.”

It’s strange for Lianna and Rosa to ever be quiet for more than a few minutes in each other’s company, but most of the morning is spent in an eerie silence as the newscast plays in the background, with reports of another Dynamax Pokemon appearing in the wild and causing some damage to the local infrastructure in Ballonlea, right before another massive electrical outage. Finally, Lianna rises from the kitchen table, her plate of pancakes now empty except for lingering traces of syrup, and turns it off.

Lianna is more nervous for the rest of the afternoon and early evening than she expects, and she isn’t sure why. Before she leaves, she spritzes on some perfume, touches up her eyeliner, and applies the ruby red lipstick that Rosa says is her color. Then, she spends forty minutes saying goodbye to Sticky, who screeches unhappily as she’s left behind in Rosa’s arms for the night, before Rosa satiates her with some snacks.

Lianna looks worried.

“She’ll be fine,” Rosa promises her, “Besides, she can’t exactly go with you. Not with _those_ kinds of plans.”

“I know, but I hate upsetting her,” Lianna laments, patting Sticky on the head as she wetly gnaws on the Cheez-It Rosa had fed her.

“She’ll be fine,” Rosa repeats, patting Lianna on the shoulder with the hand that isn’t holding Sticky, “Go on. _Get it_.”

Lianna snorts with laughter, thanks her, and leaves before Sticky has time to get upset again. She’s usually perfectly fine with Rosa - as long as no shortage of snacks are involved.

* * *

Leon lives in a sizable flat in the overtly luxurious closed gated community behind the Wyndon stadium. Lianna knows it isn’t his choice, but what the chairman deemed most appropriate for someone of his status. And it’s more difficult for snooping reporters and paparazzi to enter when the gates are guarded by a security tower. Fortunately, Leon had thought to give Lianna one of his access keys when they started dating, in case she ever wanted to visit him, so the security guard lets her through without question. 

Lianna finds Leon’s address and scans her access card at the door, which unlocks and lets her enter. Inside, the lights are off and it’s quiet. She’s beaten Leon home. Perfect.

Inside, Leon’s flat is surprisingly sparsely furnitured - with furniture that he definitely didn’t select for himself, it must have come as-is when Rose moved him in here. She can’t imagine the flat being so modern and chic if Leon and his horrible fashion sense had anything to say about it, running her fingers along the back of a slick modern sofa as she walks past it on her way to the bedroom. Now this, she thinks with a smile, looks more like a space that belongs to Leon, with the king-size bed left unmade in an obvious rush as he scrambled out of bed that morning, grey sheets sliding off one side in a waterfall of fabric.

Lianna tosses her satchel down in the oversized armchair in the corner of the room, beside a desk stacked high with training manuals and magazines, and kicks her shoes off before she helps herself to that extremely comfortable-looking king-size bed. Oh, this is going to be fun.

It’s not even ten minutes later when Lianna hears Leon come in, flicking on lights and muttering to himself. She hears him putting things down and taking his shoes off, before he starts down the hallway. She rolls over onto her back, legs bent at the knee, and flashes him an appealing smile, glasses sliding down her nose, right as he enters the room, only slightly surprised.

“Oh, hey, babe,” Leon says, smiling back, “Didn’t realize you were already here.” He hums, and she doesn’t miss how his honey-golden gaze slides over her figure appreciatively, before he adds, “You look good.”

“Hey,” she says back, patting the space beside her, “C’mere. Take that stupid cape off.”

“Hey, it isn’t stupid,” Leon laughs, but obliges, tossing the curtain of burgundy fabric, trimmed in white fur speckled black and littered with hastily sewn-on patches from various sponsors, onto the arm chair with her bag before he slides onto the bed beside her, arms instantly reaching. “Mmm…,” he hums into her hair as he holds her round the waist, “How’s my girl?”

“Much better, now that you’re here,” Lianna chuckles, fingers plucking lightly at the collar of his dumb athletic shirt, smelling of his cologne and sharp, fresh sweat, “But, that’s not what I came here for. How are _you_ , big guy?”

His broad shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. “Stressed, I’ll admit,” he says, “The gym challenge, the power outages, Rose...it’s a lot, you know?”

“I know,” Lianna says, pressing a tender kiss to the place where the blood pumps up his throat through his tanned skin, “I’m sorry. But, that’s why I came.”

Leon leans back to look at her. “Oh?”

“I’m here to help you blow off some steam, champ,” she says, smirking sharply, those ordinarily gentle brown eyes suddenly full of cunning.

But, Leon doesn’t seem to notice, only smiling gently as he leans in to kiss her sweetly on the lips, coming away with a bit of ruby red lipstick smudged on his own. “Thanks, baby. You know I love seeing you, it really does help,” he says, “Where’s Sticky?”

Lianna stares at him, blinking incredulously. Oh, he’s so sweet. He’s so _innocent_ . This really is going to be so much _fun_ , she thinks with a soft smirk. “Leon, Sticky’s home with Rosa. Do you know why?”

“Aww,” he laments, then blinks at her, “No, why?”

“Oh, Leon…,” she giggles, fingers gently cupping his cheeks as she peers up at him through her glasses, shaking her head incredulously, “You’re hopeless.”

Puzzled, he asks, “What?”

“Leon, I came here because I want to have _sex_ ,” Lianna spells it out, one finger tracing the shape of his well-manicured facial hair, “with _you_.”

Leon looks at her, at the mischievous little smirk on her ruby-red lips, at that cunning glint in her eyes behind her glasses lenses, and swallows hard. Oh, that explains the posing on his bed when he walked in, the low-hanging shirt collar, the lipstick…

His cock twitches with interest.

But, he has to ask.

“Lee, are you sure? I mean...you haven’t been in love in a long time and the last person you loved…”

Lianna silences him with a single finger against his lips. “I’m sure. Don’t worry.”

Leon answers with what has to be the goofiest grin Lianna has ever seen on a man, evoking a giggle from her, and she can’t resist the urge to kiss him - long, deep, and slow. It’s different from their chaste kisses on his bed at his mother’s home that night; it’s more passionate, more energetic, more hungry. Lianna’s tongue rolls over his lower lip and he parts them obediently, letting their teeth click quietly against each other as their tongues meet wetly. He comes away a few moments later, cheeks flushed, eyes wide, and Lianna realizes with a start that this is all entirely new to him. Oh, so much fun.

She smirks knowingly, sitting upright with her weight rested on the palms of her hands. “First time?”

He chuckles nervously, eyes flitting away briefly, before they’re drawn back to her magnetically, unable to look away for long. “Yeah.”

“Aww, the reigning world champ hasn’t even gotten _laid_ yet?” Lianna teases good-naturedly as Leon sits up beside her, beckoning her in for a quick kiss.

“When would I even have the time?” he asks, chuckling softly, “I’ve been champion since I was _twelve,_ and it’s been constant competitions, exhibition matches, press interviews, and meetings with Rose ever since. I’ve never even...you’re my first girlfriend, Lee.”

Lianna coos, “How sweet.” Then, she peppers his jawline with kisses, feeling the prickle of his facial hair against her lips and getting no small shortage of lipstick on him. _Stay-put formula, my ass_ , she thinks.

Lianna kisses him on the neck with a slight graze of her teeth and he sighs happily. She smiles, kissing him again, tugging on the bottom hem of his shirt. “Take this off. Lemme get a better look at you.”

Humming, Leon reluctantly pulls away from her just long enough to peel his synthetic workout shirt off, stuck tight to his smooth, tan skin with a day’s worth of sweat. He musses his hair as he tugs it off over his head and tosses it aside, looking even more deliciously perfect than Lianna ever imagined, leaning back on his palms with his full kissable lips smiling up at her. She whistles teasingly as her eyes skim over his well-sculpted form, so much hard lean muscle and tendon stretched taut beneath smooth skin, slightly shiny with sweat. “Hell-o, gorgeous,” she chuckles, sweeping in to press another heated kiss to his lips as she straddles him, “I have to say, baby, it’s a _crime_ that you’ve gone this long without getting laid.”

Leon chuckles. “Maybe I was just saving myself for you,” he teases right back, hands on her hips, squeezing softly at the smooth skin and thick thighs that fit oh-so-perfectly in the palms of his hands, calloused from years spent in the stadium and training in the wild area, “You’re so beautiful.”

“So are you,” Lianna hums as she kisses him, nipping again at the side of his neck, fingers trailing delicately along the ridges and edges of the hard muscles of his chest and abdomen, “Want me to touch you?”

“More than you’ll ever known,” he says, voice slightly husky with arousal.

“Tell me what you want, champ,” she purrs, already sliding down the length of his body until she’s laying on her stomach between his legs, batting her lashes up at him suggestively.

“Oh, um…” Leon chuckles, cheeks reddening with embarrassment. “I...don’t know a lot about this, but I guess you could...suck...my dick?”

Lianna laughs softly. “You’re so fuckin’ cute, Leon. But, before we start, we need to talk about something.”

His lower lip pooches out ever so slightly in disappointment, her fingers lingering over the growing bulge in the front of his athletic shorts. “What is it?”

“If something doesn’t feel right or makes you uncomfortable, you have to let me know, okay?” she says, surprisingly tender, that mischief in her eyes suddenly going soft.

Leon blinks at her. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I’ve been told I can be a little rough,” Lianna confesses, her own cheeks pinkening. This never embarrassed her before, but then again, she had never been with _Leon_ before, never with someone who was more than a filthy one-night stand that she would never see again. “I’m used to being in control. I _like_ to be in control.”

Leon’s mouth softens into a warm smile, before he lies back on the bed, shuffling his hips as he scrambles out of his athletic shorts a little too eagerly, leaving himself clad in only black boxers and those outrageous white stockings he always wears. Lianna would laugh, if he wasn’t so damn cute. “So, be in control. Show me what you want, baby. Show me what you _need_.”

Smiling, Lianna leans forward and presses another kiss to his lips, but only briefly, watching him from underneath heavy eyelids and black lashes as she replies, “I will. But _not_ until you come up with a safeword.”

All of Leon’s attempts at being sexy falter as his arousal-addled gaze brightens with curiosity. “What’s a safeword?”

Lianna knows she’s grinning like an idiot and it’s the farthest thing from sultry or attractive, but she can’t help it. “Oh, Leon, how are you so innocent?” she asks, shaking her head incredulously. She can’t resist the urge to kiss him again, just a quick peck on the lips, a reward for being so mind-bogglingly cute. “A safeword is...it’s something you say when you want your partner to stop something, like a failsafe. If something makes you uncomfortable, you say your safeword and I stop right away, no questions asked.”

“Okay,” he says, nodding absentmindedly in understanding, “My safeword is...uh…” His eyes flicker around the room for inspiration before he decides, “Dynamax.”

Giggling, Lianna kisses him on the very tip of his nose, before she slides down the length of his body, fingers hooking underneath the hem of his underwear. There’s a tent pitched in the fabric, already quite impressive. “Good. Mine’s thunderbolt.” Her gaze flickers up to him. “You ready, champ?”

Leon smiles and nods. “You have no idea.”

She butterfly-kisses his lower abdomen as she tugs his boxers up and over his growing erection and down to his knees, faced for the first time with the sight of his cock. It’s as thick and full as she expected, flushed cherry-red at the head, and even at half-mast, he’s as big as she imagined. It fills out a bit more even as she gawks at it, eagerly taking in the sight of that cock swollen and hard for her, tucked beneath a neatly groomed swathe of purple pubic hair.

She hears him swallow hard. “Do you, uh, like it?”

Lianna realizes that she must have been staring for much longer than she intended, chuckling softly in embarrassment before her eyes flicker up to meet his, again full of mischief and arousal. “You know it, champ. Look at you, is all this really for me?”

Leon grins goofily. “You know it, babe.”

“You know, you’re pretty big,” Lianna coos, and then her tongue is swirling gently around the head, lapping away the bead of pre that’s gathered there, and Leon is gasping sharply, fingers flying into her hair to cup the back of her head. Oh, he’s sensitive. She doesn’t know what she expected from the poor unfortunate 26-year-old virgin, but still, it’s cute, like everything else he does, from the way his jaw tightens around a moan as her tongue glides smoothly along the veiny underside of his cock to the way his brows draw together tightly at his first taste of pleasure at another person’s hands. “Feelin’ good?”

“F-Fuck…,” he stutters blindly, eyes squeezing closed as her plush full lips close around his cock head, taking him in slowly, slowly, her throat fluttering in protest around him, until…

Leon’s eyes snap open when he feels her nose hit his pubic bone. He looks down at her, cheeks red as red can be, and swallows hard. “Oh my Arceus,” he says. She took it all.

And then, her hot, wet mouth is gliding smoothly back up the eight-inch length of his shaft and he’s yelping with a moan, fingers tightening in her hair subconsciously. “L-Lianna!” he cries out in delight, her mouth all soft, full lips and warm saliva and wet tongue without even the slightest touch of teeth, gasping when her head falls back down on his cock, taking him to the hilt.

Lianna comes away with cheeks flushed and lips rosy-red and swollen, her glasses sliding down the bridge of her nose as it starts to slicken with sweat, her lipstick smudged and coming off. Leon looks down at her and has to restrain himself from coming right away, because it’s the hottest thing he’s ever seen. “F-Fuck...you’re _really_ good at that…”

“I know,” Lianna laughs, smirking as she swipes her tongue over her lips to break the string of saliva still connected to Leon’s cock head. Leon’s hips twitch in protest as the warmth of her breath leaves his cock aching in the open air as she pulls away, sitting back on her heels to peel that tight-fitting sweater off over her head.

Leon stares and stands corrected. _That_ is the hottest thing he’s ever seen.

Underneath her sweater, Lianna sports a frilly pink bra that is little more than transparent lace stretched thin between matching pink straps of fabric, crisscrossing like a harness. She has small breasts, a B-cup at best, but Leon thinks they would fit oh-so-perfectly against his palms, her pretty peachy-pink nipples perky in their lacey fabric prison. He reaches for her hips, but Lianna stops him, quickly flicking open the button on her skinny jeans and wriggling her hips free of them. She curses herself for wearing something so criminally tight as she struggles for a moment to remove them, finally getting them down to her ankles and kicking them off in the floor, revealing matching pink underwear underneath. What she lacks in breasts, she more than compensates for with that sizable, shapely ass, as round and pink as a Pecha berry.

“Oh, Arceus…,” Leon murmurs as she slides back down between his legs, face-to-face with him as their lips meet briefly, his hands instantly finding her backside and giving it a supple squeeze, “You’re perfect.”

Lianna blushes, and the sweet little smile she gives him is somehow even sexier than the ass he’s so eagerly cupping in his hands or the lacey pink material it’s dressed in. “Thanks, champ.”

“Do you, um…” He trails off, drumming his fingers against her ass, grinning shyly. “Have protection?”

“Duh,” she says, teeth worrying sweetly at the shell of his ear, “Want me to get it?”

“Y-Yeah,” he replies, reluctantly freeing her from his grasp to let her stand and walk over to her overnight bag, rummaging through it for the box of condoms.

“How about you get those boxers off the rest of the way, champ?” she suggests, smiling coyly, “And the stockings, too. They’re _really_ not doing it for me.”

Leon laughs, almost deliriously, hooking his fingers underneath his athletic support socks and hitching them down his well-muscled calves. He drops them in the floor beside the bed just as Lianna climbs back on top of him, a chain of condoms dangling from between her teeth. Once she’s settled in, she takes them out of her own mouth and drops them beside his head, reaching between her legs to gently tug her underwear down by their seat, soaked through with so much slick that they’re sticking to her body slightly even as she wrestles them down.

Leon stares at her with wide-eyed wonder as she bares herself to him for the first time, skin waxed mostly smooth and pussy lips spread wide with arousal as she trails two fingers between them, dragging them away to wetly scissor them in front of him. He gulps, cock twitching with interest at the sight. “D-Don’t we need to do something? To...get you ready?”

“Look at this,” she says, scissoring her fingers again, spreading a thin sheen of slick between them, “ _This_ means I’m ready. But, if you’re really not sure…” She smirks mischievously, reaching for his wrist, and guides his hand to her pussy, curling down all his fingers but two and gently nudging them towards her entrance. “I’m no fragile virgin, Leon. But...I appreciate your concern, baby. It’s...sweet. I’m not used to that. Here, put them in.”

He watches in mixed feelings of intrigue and arousal as she takes his two digits up to the knuckle with ease. Inside, she’s so slick, so smooth, so _soft_ , slippery wet and ready for him. She shifts her hips, twitching them forward, thrusting against his fingers until he gets the memo and starts to move them of his own accord, eagerly mapping her inner walls when he stumbles across a spot that feels just slightly rougher.

“O-Oh!” Lianna scrambles his wrist, holding his hand in place as her hips buck eagerly against his fingers. “Right there! Fuck!”

Leon’s cock feels almost uncomfortably hard, twitching pointedly between his thighs as if to remind him that it still exists, but he’s too intrigued by the way Lianna feels inside and how she’s riding his fingers so excitedly to even acknowledge it right now. But, she doesn’t deprive him for long, panting softly, cheeks flushed, as she gently pulls his fingers out and away from herself, reaching for that chain of condoms and ripping one off. “Alright, baby,” she says, voice husky, eyes hooded, “You ready to have ourselves a champion time?”

He swallows hard, grinning lopsidedly. “You know I am. Fuck,” he says, bringing his slick fingers to his own lips and lapping at them eagerly, shuddering at the taste. That’s _Lianna_. That’s his girlfriend he’s tasting. He smacks his lips, savoring the taste, when he’s suddenly dragged into another heated kiss, full of teeth and tongue.

When Lianna comes away from his lips, she’s panting softly, breasts rising and falling in that sexy little bralette with every shuddering breath. Leon smiles, reaching for her hips and squeezing them gently. “You’re so beautiful,” he purrs, “Please fuck me.”

“Trust me, champ,” she purrs right back, tearing the condom wrapper open with her teeth before she rolls it over his straining erection, “I intend to.”

Leon’s cock enters her so smoothly, so easily, that it takes his breath away. He gasps sharply at the foreign sensation, completely new to him, as she slides down his shaft with practiced ease. When their hips are flush and he’s buried in her to the hilt, she leans forward and cups his jaw, dragging him into yet another kiss as his hips buck eagerly up into her - before her hand stills them with a silent command.

She separates from his lips, smirking. “Not yet, champ. Not until I say so, yeah?”

“Y-Yeah,” he pants eagerly, grinning back at her. She snatches the snapback off of his head and he expects her to toss that aside with the rest of their clothes, surprised when she places it on her own head instead, turned backwards with the rim facing away, before she smothers him with a kiss again. This time, when she comes away from his lips, she’s instantly dragging kisses down the column of his throat, tongue twirling around his collarbone while her fingertips roll over his nipple, teasing it eagerly. “L-Lianna…”

“Yeah, baby?” she prompts, pecking his lips again.

“More. Please.”

Lianna leans back with a smile, the subtle motion causing his cock to shift within her and drawing a sharp moan from his kiss-swollen lips. “Well, since you asked so nicely, champ…,” she coos, raising up just high enough that his cock is barely inside her, before she sits down on him hard, hilting him in her once more. This time, the moan tears out of his lips, desperate and shameless, and he grips her hips so hard that his fingernails dig little white crescents into her pale skin. She moans, too, and it’s music to his ears, even better than the cheers of the crowd at the stadium during his championship matches.

Grunting, Leon bucks his hips up into her again. She hisses, eyebrows screwing together as that eight-inch shaft drives into her, sending a shudder straight up her spine. “Leon!” she moans, full-bodied and loud and shameless. She rides him with the practiced expertise of someone with much more experience than he, quickly falling into an infallible rhythm of up and down, her weight on her outstretched palms as she leans backwards to give him the best possible view of his cock gliding slickly in and out of her body. He pants, cheeks aching with a blood-red blush, mouth hanging open absentmindedly as he gazes up at her with the sweetest look for complete and utter infatuation that she’s ever seen. She’s been looked at like that before, sure, but it’s never meant something until now. Everything with Leon is so painfully, blissfully, perfectly meaningful in a way that she isn’t used to, but she enjoys every second of it.

Leon memorizes her rhythm quickly and falls in line with her, his hips thrusting upwards to meet her halfway with every stroke, his cock hilting in her with every motion and drawing a sharp keening moan from her kiss-bruised lips. The room is filled with the lewd symphony of panting and moaning, culminating in a sharp shout from Lianna when Leon bucks up into her harder than before and comes undone with a moan. Even through the translucent thin material of the condom, she can feel the force of his orgasm, leaning forward to smother his panting lips in a heated kiss, tongue delving between them for a better taste of him.

For a few minutes, they’re mostly quiet, Lianna’s breasts rising and falling quickly as she catches her breath and Leon hissing sharply when she moves forward to settle down on his sweat-sticky chest and his dwindling oversensitive erection shifts inside her. Their heavy breathing soon turns to silent, and Lianna finds herself peering up at Leon’s honeyed gaze with a soft smile as she toys with a stray lock of his hair. Each inhale fills her lungs with the scent of him, a comforting smell, a bit woodsy.

The silence is comfortable enough, but Lianna eventually moves off of his softening shaft, tugging the condom off of him to tie it off and toss it in the bin, before she settles back in beside him comfortably. “Your bed’s very cozy,” she mumbles against the nape of his neck as she nestles into him, one of his arms shifting to wrap around her.

“You just rode me like a Rapidash and the first thing you say is that my bed’s comfortable? Jeez, it must’ve been bad,” Leon laughs good-naturedly, shifting onto his side to hold her closer. She fits so beautifully against the shape of his body, decadently soft pudge where he’s hard firm muscle.

Lianna laughs, pecking him softly on the neck. “Shut up, it was great. But…”

“But?” Leon’s brows arch, worried.

“I’m just...I’m not used to _this_ ,” she says, gesturing to the way they’re pressed tightly together, both slick with sweat but neither caring, “This is usually the part where I get kicked out or leave.”

His face softens with a smile. “Well...not tonight. You’re staying.”

“You bet I am,” she laughs, sliding up the length of his body to cup his face and kiss him softly. His fringe of bangs is sticking to his forehead with sweat and his cheeks are still pleasantly rosy and flushed. She feels a sharp pang in her chest at how cute it is, promptly remembering that she still has on his snapback when she sees him without it. “That was pretty good for your first time, but...practice makes perfect.”

“I have a feeling we’ll be getting plenty of practice over the next few days,” Leon chuckles warmly against her lips, while she takes his snapback off and sets it aside so as not to crush it, “and the next few weeks, and the next few months, and the next few years if you decide to tolerate me for that long.”

Lianna’s eyes soften. “I’m gonna do a lot more than just tolerate you, Leon.”

He smiles, resting his head directly across from hers, where she’s in easy kissing distance. “I hope so, Lee.”

The way he watches her with more love in his eyes than she knew existed in the world makes her chest ache in the sweetest possible way. “Hey, Leon?” she says, before she can change her mind.

“Yeah?”

“I love you,” she says, “and that scares the shit out of me.”

“I know it does,” Leon replies softly, “and you know that I would never hurt you the way that bastard did. I promise. Champion’s word.”

Lianna smiles and reels him in for another kiss, this one chaste and sweet. “I know you won’t, champ. You’re too damn good to ever do that.”

He presses his forehead to hers. “I love you, too. You know that?”

“I do,” she says, “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For teaching me how to love again,” she says softly, “and for being patient with me. To be honest, I’m surprised I haven’t scared you off yet. I know I...have a lot of baggage, to put it lightly. I can be a lot, I know that. A lot of people haven’t been willing to put up with me. Much less love me. But...you do. And that’s all that matters to me now.”

His face softens. “You’re human, Lee. Your past doesn’t define you and, baggage or not, you still deserve love. And besides...there’s no one else I’d rather be with right now, in this bed. I love you.”

“I love you, too, champ,” she replies, “I really do. But...I’m still afraid, in the back of my mind. Not because I’m worried you’ll hurt me, but...I’m just so afraid of losing you. I’m moving back to Alola in a few weeks and then what? Will you just...forget about me?”

Leon scoffs. “Of course not, Lee. We’ll work it out. I’ll come visit you in Alola. I want to meet your dads.”

“I should warn you,” she chuckles dryly, “They can be a lot, too.”

“If they’re anything like you,” he reassures her, “I’m gonna love them. We’ll get along just fine.” He presses their lips together yet again. “It’s okay to be afraid. What’s life without a little fear?”

“Safe,” Lianna remarks, sharper than she intended.

“You’re safe with me,” he says, “I promise. I swear it. And if I ever do something, anything, that makes you feel afraid...just remember the safeword.”

She chuckles dryly. “Leon, that’s not what…,” she starts, but he silences her with another kiss, arms tightening around her slender body, holding her especially close. He’s so warm, so solid, so _safe_. Here in his arms, tucked into his bed, with their legs tangled and sticky with sweat and sex fluids, she feels eerily at peace in a way that she never expected she would, not in a lifetime. And yet, here he is, the person who changed her mind: her safeword. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus: Have some [smutty artwork](https://f2.toyhou.se/file/f2-toyhou-se/images/19783756_hmYPMQD4kcKD5lx.png) I commissioned from [sminixs](https://twitter.com/smnixs) on Twitter~ <3


	15. Chapter 15

Leon silences his phone, sleeps in two hours later than usual, and wakes up to a string of messages from Chairman Rose, demanding to know where he is and why he missed that morning’s unimportant meeting. Shrugging, Leon chooses to ignore them, setting his phone back down on the nightstand before promptly returning his fingers to Lianna’s burgundy hair, tousled with sleep.

It’s hard to focus on Rose’s trivial busy work when there’s a warm, wet mouth wrapped around his cock, bobbing back and forth oh-so-sweetly until he comes undone with a cry of her name.

Lianna wipes her mouth on the back of her hand, but not before she gives his cock head a final tender lick. Then, she slumps back down on his chest with a happy sigh, fingers idly drawing circles on his gorgeously sculpted pecs. All that time he spent in the stadium had paid off in ways other than being an expert in Pokemon battling. He hums in contentment, one hand rested on her lower back. His phone vibrates. He ignores it.

“You’re not gonna get in trouble because of me, are you?” Lianna asks after awhile.

“Who cares if I do?” Leon retorts, eyebrows wrinkling, “It was a single meeting - that could have been an email. It’s just...better for publicity, I guess, if I show up to every little thing with him.”

Humming, Lianna peers up at him, squinting without her glasses, giving her a perpetually confused expression. “Being champion ain’t all it’s cracked up to be, hmm?”

“Ugh,” he grumbles, “The battling is fun. That’s what I’m good at it. That’s what I  _ know _ . But, Rose and his business endeavors and morning meetings and interviews...I’m less good at that.”

“You’re good with people,” she laments, “and people like you. As the champion, they trust you. Rose needs to market off of that trust.”

“Sounds crooked when you word it like that,” he remarks with a frown.

“Because it is,” she says, “Rose is a businessman. They usually are.”

Chuckling, Leon nuzzles his face into her hair, until his nose is full of her scent and he can’t think of anything else. “You  _ really  _ don’t like him, do you?”

Lianna laughs, shrugging. “Call it a hunch, but I know a Seviper when I see one. I wasn’t champion for very long, but it was long enough for me to know his kind.”

He’s uncharacteristically quiet for a few moments. Lianna glances up at him, half-expecting him to scold her, but he only smiles and squeezes her closer. “I feel a lot less stressed today,” he tells her, grinning sheepishly, “Thanks.”

Lianna laughs, pulling away from him just enough to reach her glasses on the nightstand. “Anytime, champ.”

Leon sits straight up in bed. “Wait, you mean we can do that  _ anytime  _ we want?”

She splutters with laughter now. “Champ, you are  _ impossible _ . Of course we can! I’m your girlfriend, aren’t I?”

“You are,” he says, grinning idiotically, and there’s a split second of silence before he’s dragging her into another kiss with her warm little body hemmed beneath his. Lianna hums contentedly into the kiss, tongue rolling smoothly, wetly, against his, coming away with an airy giggle.

“You better call Rose,” she chuckles, pushing up on him until he obliges, just enough that she can flip him over and pin him to the bed with his wrists clasped high above his head, startling him with her sudden show of strength, “and tell him to cancel the rest of those morning meetings. You’re gonna be a little late, prince.”

* * *

Leon calls in sick. He had fallen asleep unexpectedly with a fever the night before, forgotten to set an alarm, and overslept until noon, when he finally reach out to Chairman Rose with answers about his whereabouts. Rose buys it, but he feels bad, glancing sideways at Lianna as she brings him a plateful of curry from the kitchenette and drops down on the sofa beside him.

“I feel bad,” he confesses, “I’ve never missed a meeting before.”

Lianna chuckles and takes a bite of her own curry. It’s surprisingly sweet, the flavor eerily reminiscent of Pecha berries ripe from the tree. “Jeez, never? Live a little, champ.”

“Rose counts on me to be there,” he says, casting her a guilty glance, like a Growlithe that’s been caught doing something naughty, “He’s gonna be disappointed in me.”

“Leon,” says Lianna, as gently as she can, “You’ve been champion since you were  _ twelve _ . How old are you now?”

He thinks about it for a second too long and she chuckles. “Twenty-six.”

“You’ve been at his beck and call for  _ fourteen years _ , Leon,” she tells him through a second mouthful of curry. It’s good. “One day without you isn’t going to kill him. If he can’t function without you for that long, I would greatly question his ability to lead.”

“I...guess that’s true,” Leon begrudgingly agrees, picking at his plate.

“I mean it, Leon,” she says, putting her plate down to gently cup his jaw, forcing him to look at her, “You’ve been champion for  _ fourteen years _ . And you’ve been one  _ hell  _ of a good one. Rose should never have any complaints about you. It was one meeting. In fourteen years’ worth of meetings and interviews and other champion bullshit. You’ve earned it.”

His face softens, the guilt in his honey-golden gaze ebbing away, as he raises one hand to gently clasp hers, bringing it to his lips for a soft kiss to her knuckles. “You really know how to make a guy feel special, you know that?”

“Leon,” Lianna states, “That shouldn’t make you feel special. That’s like...human decency, dude. You  _ need  _ a break sometimes. And it sounds like Rose has literally never given you one. And that’s not okay.”

He shrugs, picking his plate up and finally taking a bite of his curry. “I’ve never known any different. I don’t even remember what it was like to not be champion.”

“Unsurprisingly,” she says, “You’ve been champ more than half your life. You...must have missed out on a lot, huh? Hard to have much of a childhood when you’re being paraded around like a regional trophy.”

“It...was hard. It is,” Leon agrees, nodding absentmindedly, “I missed out on a lot back home. Before, my mom at least had me to help with Hop. When I left, she had no one. And Hop...well, Hop really missed me. But he was always so excited about his brother being champion, that I felt like I could never willingly give it up.”

She smiles faintly. “You’re a good brother.”

“I feel like I would have been a better one if I had been there to see him grow up,” he half-says, half-sighs, “Like you said, I missed out on a lot. And now...Hop’s old enough to compete in the gym challenge himself.”

“Speaking of which…,” Lianna says, reaching for the remote and clicking the TV on. She isn’t surprised that it’s already on the channel that hosts all of the gym challenge-related festivities, currently broadcasting some preliminary interviews with some of the contestants. None of them are horribly interesting. “He and Aisling compete in Circhester today, yeah?”

“Yeah,” he replies, grinning enthusiastically, any semblance of worry or regret suddenly long gone, “They’re gonna knock it outta the park.”

“You know it,” she agrees, “It’s an ice-type gym, right?”

“Right. Well, partially right. Melody and her son alternate running the gym every year, but it’s Melody’s turn this year, so the challengers will be facing an ice-type team,” Leon elaborates, “Her son, Gordie, will run it next year. He uses rock types.”

“Huh, Galar’s the only region that does that, you know,” she muses, “A lot’s different here, but I like it. Galar feels like it really does gym battles  _ right _ . It’s exciting.”

“Wasn’t it exciting back in Hoenn?” he asks.

Lianna shrugs. “It was when I was sixteen, but it didn’t stay exciting for long. Galar really  _ does  _ have some of the strongest trainers in the world, I guess, because I never got challengers like the likes of Aisling or your brother. Those kids are crazy good at this already. Some people train their entire lives and are never half as good as they are right now.”

Leon beams proudly. “That’s Hop!”

Conversation dwindles as the two focus on their food, finishing quickly. Leon takes the dishes to the kitchen to soak in the sink until he feels like washing them, returning with a soft throw blanket to wrap them both up in while they snuggle on the sofa and watch the day’s challengers rise one-by-one to face Melody. Some of them win - Aisling, Marnie, and Hop among them - but more of them lose. Melody is tough, a seasoned gym leader of many years. The entire event is over in two hours, much faster than the five or six it had taken for all of the challengers to pass through a gym or be defeated at the beginning of the challenge. There are less than a third of them left now.

“I suppose I should be getting back, before Stickybun screams Rosa’s poor ears off,” Lianna muses, but Leon’s grip on her only tightens with a lopsided grin full of more mischief than she ever expected of him.

“C’mon, it’s late,” he says, with puppy eyes like honeyed amber, and Lianna already knows she’s lost, “One more night, Lee?”

She chuckles, huskier than usual, cupping his jaw as she lays on top of him, sprawling between his legs with their hips flush together. “Alright, champ. But only because my sweet boyfriend is  _ sick  _ and I need to stay here and take care of him.”

His hands tighten on her ass. “Hmm?”

“I think I’ll start,” she says, already sliding down the length of his body to kneel between his legs, “by riding you right here on this sofa.”

* * *

Eventually, Leon’s guilty conscience conquers him and he sets an alarm for 7AM the following morning, when he reluctantly rises, clicks it off, and stumbles out of bed. He spends twenty minutes getting ready - but not before he pauses to pull the sheets back up over Lianna’s sleeping form, pressing a tender kiss to her forehead before he leaves for another long day of meetings and public appearances that aren’t nearly as interesting as the slight shine in Lianna’s eyes when she smiles or the way she tips her head ever so slightly to one side when she’s curious...or the way her plump, juicy lips feel wrapped around his cock. But, that last one’s a little less romantic.

When Lianna wakes, Leon is long gone, his king-size bed feeling painfully lonely in his absence. She lingers in it for a few minutes, checking emails, mostly spam and shopping ads, and texting Rosa to reassure her that she’ll be home soon, while she squeezes Leon’s pillow against her bare chest. It smells sweetly of his woodsy cologne and, as much as she would have liked to linger there for the rest of the day, she knows Stickybun must be missing her terribly. Eventually, she convinces herself to get up, get ready, and get out - but not before she leaves a sweet little love note taped to the fridge, addressed to  _ the champion of my heart _ . Disgustingly cheesy. Leon will love it.

Lianna arrives home before 9AM. Stickybun shrieks at her from the kitchen floor, where she’s currently slicking a trail of slime across the tiles faster than Rosa can mop it up - in protest of her trainer’s absence, no doubt. Lianna scoops her up instantly, squeezing her tightly. “Sticky! Did you miss me, baby girl?”

“Goomy!”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry,” she says, “but trust me, it’s better for us both if you don’t come when I ‘spend the night’ with Leon. I’m just trying to preserve your innocence, kid.”

Rosa laughs, mopping up the last of Sticky’s slime trail. “Glad you’re back. She was this close to staging a protest. Seriously, Lee?  _ Two  _ nights? What were you two doing? Nevermind, I don’t want to know.”

Lianna laughs, too, in part because of Rosa and in part because Sticky is nuzzling the ticklish place on her neck that’s still a bit tender from Leon’s love bites. “Poor guy needed to blow off some steam. And I’m happy to report that everyone’s favorite champion has officially  _ lost his innocence. _ ”

“Ew, Lee, don’t kiss and tell,” Rosa scoffs, “I don’t wanna hear about Leon’s dick.”

“Are you sure? Because I’m pretty sure it’s classified as a Galar national treasure.” Lianna wiggles her eyebrows and Rosa waves her off in thinly veiled disgust.

“Take your slimy gremlin and go,” Rosa says, “I’m gonna go wash the three sets of sheets she slimed all over while you were jumping Leon’s bones.”

“Hey! Don’t call her a gremlin!”

“Gremlin! Stinky! Slimy little bastard baby!”

“Noooo, don’t be mean!”

* * *

Lianna doesn’t see Leon over the next three days, which she spends busily cleaning up around the house and visiting the nearby routes to train with her team - namely Popsicle, who was growing quickly underneath her guidance. Already, the little ice worm had nearly doubled in size, approaching his fully grown size - or at least, the size he would be until he evolved. Meanwhile, Rosa has left the rental home for the next few days to meet up with Aisling in Spikemuth, where she’ll challenge the next gym leader. Piers, Lianna remembers fondly. She should talk to Leon about inviting him and Raihan out for a double date sometime, they were good company.

Popsicle is practicing spearing the snowballs Lianna throws in the air for him with icicles when her Rotom phone rings, vibrating to life as it flies out of her pocket to levitate in front of her. She glances at the lit-up screen. An unknown number. She taps decline and ignores it, instead bringing up the camera app to record a video of Popsicle’s new moves, with the intention of sending it to Rosa and Leon later.

Five minutes later, her phone rings again. Another unknown number. Lianna hesitates before clicking decline this time, uncertain who would be trying to get in touch with her if it wasn’t Leon, Rosa, or Archie and Maxie, whose numbers she has both saved and committed to memory. Less than three minutes later, there’s another class from the same number and, begrudgingly, Lianna answers it, whistling for Popsicle to come back to her as she presses the phone to her ear.

“Hello?” she says into the receiver.

“Miss Lianna Everton,” a man’s voice says, condescending and smooth, and Lianna jerks the phone away from her face to stare at the blank screen incredulously. It’s a little harder to hear out on the route, with the harsh wind constantly blowing a faceful of snow at her, but there’s no mistaking that voice.

“Chairman Rose?” she prompts, her voice unmistakably startled.

“Correct,” he hums, sounding eerily satisfied, “Are you busy, Miss Everton? I’m afraid something’s come up and I need to speak to you as soon as possible. Could you possibly pay me a visit at Rose Tower in an hour?”

“Just Lianna is fine,” she corrects him, narrowing her eyes, “Why?”

“Because, dear, I need to speak with you,” he says,  _ “Urgently.” _

Lianna hesitates. She trusts the chairman about as much as she trusts a wild Ursaring and what he could possibly need to speak to her about privately, she has no idea. Something about her relationship with Leon, no doubt. “...I’ll see you in an hour,” she reluctantly agrees.

“Good,” Rose says, then hangs up.

There on the route, with the bitterly cold wind stinging her face with shards of ice and her burgundy hair whipping around her, she suddenly feels that something is very, very wrong.

* * *

Inside Rose Tower, Chairman Rose’s office screams of luxury, everything sleekly industrialized with the elegant aesthetic of silver steel and polished mahogany. There’s a wishing star hanging in a shadow box on the wall behind his sprawling glass-topped desk, scattered with neatly organized stacks of documents and newspapers folded into thirds. Most of their headlines are about the recent energy crisis, Lianna notices as she waits, studying the office absentmindedly. The woman called Oleana had met her thirty floors below in the lobby and brought her here upon her arrival, where she’s been sitting idly on the burgundy leather sofa across from Rose’s desk.

Rose arrives not a minute late, greeting her as he sits down behind his desk, “Miss Everton, I’m glad you came.”

“Like you would have given me much choice, Chairman,” Lianna replies, not even bothering to conceal her disdain, “You needed to speak to me, sir?”

Rose’s finger circles around the rim of a flower vase seated on one side of his desk, filled with wilted red roses. “Yes, Miss Everton. I’m afraid I’m in dire need of your help, dear.”

“Why would you need my help?” Lianna scoffs incredulously.

“Because,” Rose says, with one of those soft smiles that should be friendly but only comes across as venomous in Lianna’s eyes, a Seviper waiting to strike, “Leon will listen to you. You two are close, hmm? The poor thing, he certainly recovered from that recent bout of illness quickly, don’t you think? And he came to our morning meeting the next day with a few glaringly obvious marks on his neck. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

Lianna crosses her arms over her chest. “Did you call me here just to question me about mine and Leon’s sex life, Chairman?”

“No,” Rose says, “I called you here because I need you to talk to Leon. I’m sure you’re plenty familiar by now with our little energy crisis here in Galar. It’s quite the problem, as I’m sure you’re well aware, and it’s getting worse by the day. We can’t put it off any longer. We have to do something about it. Now.”

“So I’ve gathered,” she remarks, frowning pointedly, “What does this have to do with Leon?”

“I have a plan, Miss Everton, that will solve the energy crisis in Galar, once and for all,” he announces, with a grandiose gesture of his hand, “But, in order to move forward, I need Leon’s help. You see, the people of Galar trust Leon. And, although he isn’t a member of our government, exactly, the people highly value his opinion on everything. Including the energy crisis and how it should be handled.”

“Leon isn’t an expert on coal-based electricity or stopping power outages,” Lianna retorts, “You should be calling in someone who is, instead of dragging your champion into this. Especially so close to the champion cup, when he has other matters to think about.”

“I understand your concerns,” Rose says, “but there won’t  _ be  _ a champion cup if we don’t act on this right away, and I need Leon to convince the people of Galar to endorse my plan to put an end to the crisis.”

“What exactly is your plan?” she wants to know, “And why haven’t you spoken to Leon about it yourself?”

“I have,” Rose replies, frowning, “and he won’t listen to me. He won’t listen to reason. But, he will listen to  _ you _ .”

“He’s a grown man who can make his own decisions without my influence, Chairman,” she remarks, crossing one leg over the other, “If Leon thinks it’s a bad idea, then I’m not going to try to change his mind on your behalf. And you didn’t answer my question: what  _ is  _ your plan?”

“That’s confidential information, Miss Everton, I’m sure you understand,” Rose says sharply, slightly louder than before, “and that’s a shame. I thought you were smarter than that, and certainly smarter than Leon.”

Lianna’s jaw tightens, but she doesn’t take the bait. It’s what he wants.

Sighing, Rose rises from his chair and checks his watch, before he turns his back to her to stare out the window that forms the entire rear wall of his office. Below them, Wyndon is bustling with life, in anticipation for the champion cup the following week. “Miss Everton,” he says unexpectedly, “How is your father?”

Lianna’s heart sinks. “No.”

Rose turns to her and smiles wickedly. “That’s right, Miss Everton. My people have done some digging and it turns out that your beloved daddy is no other than the former leader of the criminal organization Team Magma. But, it looks like he’s gotten off relatively scotch-free, hasn’t he? Your stepfather, too, by the looks of it.”

Lianna remains rigidly still as Rose circles around her, like a Pyroar before it moves in for the kill. She pleads with herself not to tremble, not to show him her fear, her weakness, but the frown on her face and the terrified look in her eyes says it all: Rose has won.

“It would be a shame if the wrong people found out about your father’s offenses, wouldn’t it?” Rose quips piteously, “He might have gotten off scotch-free last time, but I suppose your being champion had something to do with that, didn’t it? And, last I recall, dear, you’re not champion anymore. You no longer have the power to spare him. And if I recall correctly, it would be life in prison or  _ worse  _ if the two of them were to be brought to justice, your stepfather, too.”

She swallows hard. “What do you want me to do?”

Rose smiles coyly. “Oh, so we’ve reached an agreement, I see. Well, Miss Everton, it’s simple. Leon is gullible. And he just  _ adores  _ you. So, what I need from you is to convince him to comply with my plan to put an end to the energy crisis. And...keep him happy.”

Lianna manages to quirk a brow.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed that Leon has been...stressed, recently,” Rose says, hands behind his back, “He isn’t happy. And an unhappy champion doesn’t make for very good ratings, does it? I think you would know. So, convince him to see my side, and keep him happy for the cameras. Understood, Miss Everton?”

Lianna swallows. “Understood.”

“That’s a good girl,” Rose leers, “Now, you’re going to do precisely what I ask of you and your father will continue to live his happy, carefree life in Alola and no one will ever be the wiser, correct?”

She wets her lips with a swipe of her tongue. “Correct.”

“You’ll do everything I ask of you, Miss Everton?”

“I’ll do it,” Lianna says, and her voice sounds as helplessly small as she feels.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt distinctly off the entire time I was writing this chapter, so I hope it isn't an abrupt drop in quality or anything! Go easy on me, I worked 60-ish hours in emergency healthcare last week and my brain is still slightly fried lol. (Also, please enjoy my rampant struggle to make sense of the Pokemon villains' intentions because these games aren't exactly known for their thoughtful, sensible villain schemes. Gotta work with what I've got lol.)

If Chairman Rose thinks Lianna is going to comply with his attempts to manipulate her and jeopardize her relationship with Leon or the safety of her fathers, he’s stupider than she thought.

Lianna walks home, takes a moment to free Stickybun from her Pokeball and hoist her onto her shoulder for moral support, and stomps into her bedroom to call Leon. He answers on the second ring, beaming cheerily through the screen, but his smile promptly fades when he sees the serious look on her face.

“Leon,” she says sharply and, in that instant, her own face in the corner of the screen reminds her so much of Maxie, with her sharply creased brows and stern scowl, “I need you to come over as soon as you can. Don’t ask questions. Just come when you can, okay?”

“Lee?” Leon squeaks softly, eyebrows arched, “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine, champ,” she reassures him, trying to smile, “But I need to talk to you as soon as possible. It’s important.”

“I’ll be there in ten,” Leon says, then the video call disconnects. Lianna takes a moment to thread her fingers through her hair, Stickybun cooing in concern from her shoulder when she recognizes her trainer’s stern frown and wrinkled brow as signs of stress. She fakes a smile, scratching underneath Sticky’s slimy chin in reassurance.

Lianna is waiting by the door when Leon knocks. She opens it, drags him inside, and slams it closed behind him, but not before scanning the driveway and surrounding shrubbery for any signs that he’s been followed. Rose’s people are everywhere and probably watching her closely right about now, to make sure he’s fulfilling her promise.

“Lianna,” Leon says the instant he’s inside, gripping her shoulders tightly in concern, “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

“It’s Chairman Rose,” Lianna replies quickly, her voice seething with venom, “Guess who called me into his office to speak to me  _ personally  _ today?”

His brows shoot up underneath the brim of his snapback in surprise. “Rose? What did he want from you? Is this about the hickeys?”

“Unfortunately, no, I wish that’s all it was,” she sighs, flopping down on the sofa and patting the space beside her. He follows her as obediently as a Growlithe puppy, sitting beside her, his hand instantly searching for hers to squeeze it reassuringly. “What’s going on?” Leon demands.

Lianna’s gaze reluctantly flickers to his. “You promise you’ll believe me, no matter what I tell you?”

“I swear it,” he says, squeezing tighter, until both of their knuckles are flushed white with tension.

“First,” Lianna sighs, “Do you know anything about a...plan Rose has? To fix the energy crisis?”

Leon frowns. “Yeah, I do.”

“And what  _ is  _ his plan, exactly? He told me it was  _ confidential information _ , right before he threatened me if I didn’t manipulate you into complying with it,” Lianna retorts.

Leon freezes. For a moment, his face is shocked, still. And then, his thick brows furrow, his amber eyes darken, and he snarls in a way that Lianna never would have imagined from him, so intensely that his adam’s apple bobs in his throat and his grip on her hands tightens. “He did  _ what _ now?”

Something about seeing Leon so angry for her is darkly satisfying. Lianna might have enjoyed it, if not for their current situation. She frowns and elaborates, “Rose called me to his office to tell me I should convince you to comply with his plan and  _ keep you happy _ .” She says it with air quotes around the latter half, voice bitter. “And if I don’t, he says he’s going to get my dad and stepdad thrown in jail.”

His snarl darkens. “He  _ threatened  _ you.”

“And he tried to use me to get to you,” Lianna remarks, “Said you wouldn’t listen to him, but you’d listen to me, because we’re fucking.”

Leon scoffs. “Did he word it like  _ that _ ?”

“No, but the implications were there,” she retorts, squeezing his hands tenderly until his grip on her starts to loosen. She’s never seen him so upset before - granted, she hasn’t known him especially long - with his face molded into such a terrible scowl that one vein is pulsating angrily down the midline of his forehead, beneath the fringe of his shaggy bangs. “What’s Rose planning, Leon? I want to know.”

He snorts like a Tauros. “Rose has this frankly  _ insane  _ idea to use Dynamax energy from the energy spots to solve the energy crisis. Except no one has ever been able to harness Dynamax energy into electricity, so it’s kind of a baseless idea. And dangerous, too. That’s why those wild Pokemon have been mysteriously Dynamaxing around Galar recently. There’s been hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages from them already, and Rose’s plan would mean that that’s happening  _ all the time _ . I’m no expert, but that doesn’t sound like a good plan to me.”

“Me either,” Lianna agrees, “Sounds dangerous.”

“He’s desperate,” Leon laments, “He doesn’t know what to do, and everyone is looking to him for help, since he owns the coal mines and power companies around Galar. But, he can’t willingly endanger everyone in the region. We’ll figure something else out. We have to.”

“Rose said the power would be out everywhere before the champion cup if he doesn’t do something right now,” she says.

His shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. “I don’t know how bad it actually is. But, even if that’s true, I’m not letting him put the entire region at risk to chase an idea that might not even work. Probably won’t work. The regional professor here, she studied Dynamax energy for most of her life, and even she doesn’t know a lot about it, much less how to harness it into electricity. All we  _ really  _ know is that Dynamax energy is tied to Wishing Stars. Those are star fragments that fall around Galar sometimes, during meteor showers. And...there’s a legend surrounding it. No one knows for sure if it’s really true or not, but my friend Sonia’s been studying it recently and thinks there might be something to it.”

“So, Rose is rushing into something he doesn’t understand that could potentially endanger the entire region,” Lianna surmises, “Wow, sounds like a wonderful way to run the Galarian government.”

Leon exhales a shuddering sigh. Lianna releases his hand, bends forward to retrieve Stickybun from the floor at their feet, and sits her in his lap. “Here. Pet Sticky. Always helps me when I’m upset,” she offers.

He chuckles dryly, but it’s completely devoid of humor or cheer, tickling underneath the Goomy’s chin idly. She purrs. “I’m...really sorry, Lee. I’ve known for awhile now that Rose is a bit of a...well, a prick, to put it lightly. But I never thought he’d go after you personally like this.”

“I’m...more worried about you, honestly,” Lianna replies, resting a palm on his shoulder and giving him a gentle squeeze, “You’ve been loyal to Rose for over half your life. And he tried to convince me to manipulate you when you didn’t bend to his will. That must hurt. A lot.”

“It does,” Leon says, bringing Stickybun closer for a gentle hug. She coos at him, nuzzling underneath his chin until his facial hair is tacky with slime. He can’t resist a chuckle. “She’s sweet. Reminds me of you.”

“Leon, you and I both know I’m far from it,” she laughs, without humor, then reclines her head onto the back of the sofa and sighs, “What are we gonna do, Leon? Rose is clearly off his rocker. And now he’s trying to manipulate you into endorsing his Zubat-shit crazy plan. And threatening my parents.”

He hums thoughtfully. “I don’t know, Lee. But...why would he threaten your parents? Does he have dirt on them or something?”

“Unfortunately, dirt on them isn’t terribly hard to find,” Lianna sighs, frowning up at the ceiling, “Daddy and Archie used to be the leaders of rival research teams in Hoenn. And I use the term ‘research teams’ very loosely here. They were more like  _ gangs _ .”

“Oh,” Leon says blankly, eyes wide, “Wow, that’s a bombshell.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” Lianna looks at him wearily. “Rose isn’t the only one who’s had stupid plans for his region before, I’m afraid. Daddy wanted to expand the usable land in Hoenn by awakening the legendary Pokemon Groudon to cause the ocean to recede. Archie, my stepdad, wanted the opposite: to expand the seas.”

Leon blinks at her. “I’m sorry, what?”

Lianna shrugs. “I don’t know, Leon. I wish I did. Daddy says he and Archie first met in college. They were roommates. They fell in love. I’m sure it would have been a real meet-cute scenario if their research hadn’t taken them down competing pathways. They just...grew apart, I guess. I don’t know how much of their crazy plans to expand the land or sea were actually founded in science, but I would guess it wasn’t much. A lot of it was probably just...anger at each other. Resentment. You know. People do stupid things when they’re upset.  _ Really  _ stupid things, in their case. At least Daddy’s idea to expand the land  _ kind of  _ makes sense, if you squint. More land means more usable space for people to settle.”

“But...they’re married.”

Lianna laughs. “Oh, champ. Trust me, it’s a  _ long  _ story. What matters now is that I...might have used my power as champion to get them off relatively easy. They apologized. They helped me and Steven stop Groudon and Kyogre from destroying all of Hoenn. I felt like they were ready to change and deserved a second chance. So...I made it happen. And now...Rose knows about it, and he wants to reverse everything I’ve done to protect them. I knew even then that maybe, politically speaking, it wasn’t smart. But they’re my family, Leon. They were all I had, until I met Rosa...and you. And I never believed that they meant for what happened, to happen. It doesn’t make anything they did okay. But the road to hell was paved with good intentions.”

She’s mindlessly babbling herself in circles when Leon presses a single finger to her lips and shushes her, smiling reassuringly. “No, it’s okay,” he says, “I get it, Lee. They’re your family. You’re protecting them because you love them.”

“That...doesn’t bother you?” she asks, worrying her lower lip between her teeth.

“No,” he replies softly, “Because I would do the same thing if it were Hop or my mom. Or you.”

She exhales in relief. “Oh, you don’t think I’m defending a couple of criminals. Good.”

“They haven’t exactly caused any trouble since then, have they?” Leon prompts.

“Well…” Lianna stifles a giggle in his bicep, while Sticky voices some colorful opinions from his lap. “Archie did get a little overenthusiastic at the bar and dance on a table once. But other than that, no. They’re just...my dads. It’s hard for me to ever look at them and think that they used to be the heads of rival criminal organizations. It just seems...so unlike them now. I mean, Daddy wears gaudy Alolan print shirts and an entire bottle of sunscreen while he braids his Camerupt’s mane. It’s hard to ever think of him as an intimidating gang leader when he’s afraid of getting sunburnt or his Pokemon’s fur getting tangled. And Archie is just...Archie. They’re both so  _ ridiculous _ and I...I love them, Leon.”

He smiles. “I know. And I promise you, Lee...regardless of what they may or may not have done in the past, we’re going to protect them. Because they can’t possibly be completely bad people, if they gave me you.” He squeezes her hand gently, bringing her fingertips to his lips to kiss them.

“You are so cheesy…,” Lianna says with a shake of her head, before she’s pressing a kiss to his lips, “and I love you so much, champ.”

“I love you, too,” he says, and there’s that familiar earnesty in his eyes, burning with an intensity that she doesn’t know what to do with, “and I promise you, Rose is never going to threaten you like that again.”

Lianna touches her forehead to his. “But, what about you?”

“We’ll...decide what to do after the champion cup,” Leon decides after contemplating it for a moment, gently stroking Sticky’s antennae while she croons, “I don’t want whatever happens to interfere with the gym challenge. Let’s let everyone enjoy the competition, and then we’ll worry about the energy crisis and confronting Rose about this. Because, believe me, I’m going to talk to him about this.”

“And what happens when you tell him that I snitched?” Lianna worries.

He presses a kiss to her forehead. “Don’t worry, babe. I’ll handle it. Nothing’s going to happen to your family, I promise.”

Lianna melts into the sofa cushions, sighing wearily. “This isn’t what I bargained for when Rosa invited me on a vacation to Galar. Getting involved in some pipe scheme with the Galarian government definitely wasn’t on the agenda.”

“What about bagging their incredibly handsome champion?” Leon chuckles against her throat.

She smiles in spite of herself. “How are you so carefree? It’s like nothing bothers you. Even after everything I’ve just told you, you don’t really seem upset.”

“I am,” he says, “But it’s hard to be angry when I’m here with you. And besides, when you’ve been in the spotlight as long as I have...you get used to it. People hurting you. It stops bothering you after awhile. I’ve just learned how to deal with it, and not let it show where a camera might see it.”

“Leon,” she says, glancing at him pensively, “That’s terrible, you know?”

“I know. But that’s how it is. That’s how it always has been.”

“Are you...happy, being champion?” she asks earnestly.

“I’m...happy that I’m someone the people can turn to and trust. I’m happy to represent the Galarian people and some of the strongest trainers in the world. And I’m happy every time I have the opportunity to battle. The battling, that’s what I really live for.”

A gentle hand rises to cup his cheek. She fixes him with a frown in her eyes. “Leon. Are you happy?”

“...I don’t know,” he finally says, “No one’s ever really asked.”

“Oh, champ…,” Lianna drawls, before she’s smothering his face in a smattering of kisses, feeling the clench in her chest that pleads with her to protect him. Rose doesn’t deserve this man’s loyalty, or his earnesty, or his time. Rose doesn’t deserve Leon. 

“It’s been such a long time,” he adds after a moment, “that I don’t know what I would do if I  _ wasn’t  _ champion. I’ve never had to think about it before. I wonder if this will be the year that changes.”

“Do you want it to change?”

“I don’t know the answer to that, either,” Leon says, then smiles down at her with a sadness in his eyes that doesn’t suit him, doesn’t belong there. Lianna wants to smother him with a kiss and hold him and love him until every ounce of that sadness ebbs away into nothing. But, she knows this is one problem that she isn’t the answer to, as much as she wishes she could fix it for him. “Guess I’ll figure that out when the time comes.”

Lianna reaches for his hand. He meets her halfway, their fingers intertwining gently.

“You said there was a legend about Dynamax Pokemon,” she says after a few moments of contemplative silence, “Can I hear it? Every region has their stories. I always like to hear them.”

“Oh, uh, sure!” Leon answers, a bit more cheerily than he’s sounded this entire time, “I’m not much of a storyteller, but I’ll give it a shot. Sonia would tell it better, but she’s not here, I guess. Okay, so…”

Leon  _ is  _ a good storyteller, Lianna learns as she reclines on his shoulder, his arm around her waist and Stickybun sitting in his lap and watching him with rapt attention as he tells them the tale of the legendary Pokemon Zacian and Zamazenta - the sword and the shield, once thought to be human royals, who defended Galar from something known only as the Darkest Day. Dynamax Pokemon had rampaged across the land, tearing everything in it apart, completely out of control, compelled by an unknown force. Zacian and Zamazenta had stopped them, and peace returned to the land. Now, Dynamax energy is known to occur only in certain places in Galar, called energy spots, which were most concentrated in the wild area but also in the stadiums, due to modern settlements being constructed around them. He tells the story with all the enthusiasm and flair of someone who knows it well, and Lianna highly suspects this story has probably been popularized over the years in children’s storybooks and fairytales.

When Leon finishes his tale, Stickybun has drifted off on the cushion beside him, where she had relocated from his lap when he wouldn’t stop wildly gesturing with his hands and jostling her as he spoke. But, Lianna is still wide awake, fingers idly tracing the graphic on his athletic shirt as she cuddles him. “Y’know, if there ever was royalty in Galar,” she remarks after he finishes, “I would think you were related to them, prince.”

“What? Why?” he chuckles, embarrassed.

“Because you’re so...I don’t know, noble? Princely? Heroic?” She laughs at herself, cheeks tinged peachy pink like the skin of a Pecha berry. “You remind me of a prince, or a king.”

He smiles, pressing his forehead to hers with a soft smile. “That would make you my queen.”

Lianna snorts, swatting him playfully. “Oh, please. I’m a commoner who happened to score with the prince and you know it,” she remarks, sticking her tongue out at him.

Leon doesn’t say a word, pecking her lips and squeezing her closer. Lianna smiles. Beneath the comforting weight of his arm and so close to his familiar warmth, it’s easy for her to forget about her visit to Rose’s office and the threat he intended to make good on if she didn’t comply with his wishes. It’s easy to forget everything bad that’s ever happened or ever will happen when she’s with Leon, safe in his arms in the warmth of this house, with only Sticky to keep them company. But, she knows that isn’t realistic. Rose is planning something - something maniacal, something uncanny - and he wants her Leon to be a part of it. He wants  _ her  _ to convince Leon to be a part of it on his behalf. Something about it makes her stomach churn and she suddenly feels unsettled all over again.

“Leon?” she prompts.

He looks at her with those honey-golden eyes, so earnest, so sweet. Something in her chest flutters at the sight. “Hmm?”

“Are you sure everything’s going to be okay? With Rose?” she asks.

“I promised, didn’t I?” Leon prompts, expression softening as he tips her chin up with one finger, stroking it lightly, “I don’t make promises I can’t keep, Lee. Especially not to you.”

“Okay,” Lianna agrees, nodding, “I trust you. I’m just...worried, I guess.”

“I think we all are, Lee,” he says, “Things are tense right now, with the energy crisis, everyone’s feeling pretty uncertain. And uncertainty scares people. That’s why I need to be there, to reassure them that everything’s gonna be alright. We’ll figure it out.”

“We’ll figure it out,” she repeats, and she believes it. Something about Leon inspires her to think that it’s true, that everything really  _ will  _ be okay, even though nothing has ever truly been okay for the past nine years of her life. Leon makes it all feel like a distant memory and not the moment that defined her and who she would grow up to be. With Leon, she thinks, maybe she can be someone else. Someone better. Someone happier. Just the idea makes her heart ache, but that darker part of her kind no longer screams at her for wanting it. She’s silenced it in favor of embracing his affections and choosing to trust him.

“You know,” Lianna says after a moment, “Rose went to meet Aisling in Spikemuth to spend some time with her, so I have this place to myself for a few days. You could stay here. With me.”

Leon quirks a brow, grinning. “Oh, yeah?”

She smiles, already reaching for his hand as she stands, tugging him towards her bedroom. “Yeah.”


	17. Chapter 17

Morning comes with bright white sunlight streaming in through the window Lianna forgot to close the curtains on. Her brows tighten into a grimace as she stirs, but her expression softens when she feels the familiar warmth of Leon’s arm around her underneath the sheets. She smiles as she opens her eyes. Everything’s fuzzy without her glasses, but she can see well enough to make out the handsome features of Leon’s face across from hers, soft with sleep, purple hair spread out around his head like a halo. She moves to press a kiss to his forehead and hears a cranky gurgle from somewhere above her head when her motion disturbs Stickybun, who mumbles at her for a moment before she settles back into sleep.

Leon hums when she kisses his forehead, dark brows wrinkling slightly, before he opens those honey-golden eyes and smiles at her and her heart all but stops. She knows that she must look like a mess - neck smattered with hickeys, hair mussed with sleep and tacky with dried sweat from their night together, eyeliner that she neglected to take off the night before smudged. But, he somehow manages to wake up as flawlessly as he went to bed. Truly, he’s a beautiful specimen of a man, earning himself an appreciative purr just for waking up.

“Mornin’, babe,” Leon hums sleepily into her hair.

“Morning,” Lianna says, “Did you open the door for Sticky?”

“Mmhm,” he mumbles, threading fingers through her hair as he leans up on one elbow, still very much naked underneath the thin veil of the sheets, “She was real upset when you conked out after our last round and forgot about her.”

Lianna groans at herself. “Oh gosh, I’m a horrible trainer.”

He chuckles and nods to where Stickybun is asleep above her head. “She seems to have forgiven you easy enough. I’m sure it’s nothing breakfast won’t fix.”

“Mmm…,” Lianna hums, but it’s absentminded and her eyes aren’t on him, gazing wearily out the window over his shoulder. She’s distracted.

He kisses her forehead, bringing her attention back to him. “You still worried about Rose?”

“Of course I am,” she says, “He’s threatening everything I love. You included.”

“I know, love,” Leon muses, with a smile so reassuring that she can’t help but feel a little bit better, “But I said I would handle it, didn’t I? C’mon, have a little faith in your champion, hmm?”

She smiles weakly. “I do, Leon. I really do. But I’m worried that this might be bigger than the both of us. Rose could try anything.”

“And if he does, I’ll stop him,” Leon promises. He sounds so certain of himself, so surefooted. And she supposes he has every right to: he’s been the solution for nearly everything to happen in the region for the past fourteen years, from the time he was a little boy of only twelve, and it’s always worked out perfectly fine.

Lianna rests her head in the crook of his neck, smiling faintly against his skin, marked with a few fresh hickeys where the old ones had started to fade. “It really does suit you, you know.”

“What?”

“You being champion. It suits you,” she says again, “Right down to that silly cape of yours. You’re brave, heroic. Almost princely. Everything a good hero should be.”

“If that’s the case,” Leon replies, “it would have suited you, too.”

Lianna snorts and laughs at him, but says nothing more. It’s taken some time, but she’s beginning to get used to his unexpectedly sincere compliments. Perhaps she’s even started to appreciate them.

“What time is it?” he asks after a moment.

She checks the alarm clock over his shoulder. “Almost nine.”

“I’m normally up at seven,” he comments, chuckling into her hair, “Guess you really tuckered me out.”

“You were really into it, it would’ve been a shame to stop you,” she teases, planting a kiss over one of the hickeys she left on him the night before. He whines softly and she smiles, nudging between his legs with her knee. Exactly as she expected, he’s hard. “You ready to go again already, prince?”

“Not my fault you look so good laying there,” he whispers against her ear, voice husky, before experimentally nipping along its outer rim. She purrs, encouraging him. He’s learning quickly.

“Well, as much as I would love to indulge you, champ,” Lianna teases, jerking her chin towards the sleeping Sticky, “we have company.”

He smiles. “So we do. But she’s asleep.”

“You think she won’t wake up when this bed starts to rock, champ?” she laughs, poking him in the nose with one finger, “I don’t have many hard no’s, but fucking with my Pokemon  _ on the bed with us  _ is one of ‘em. Gimme five.”

Reluctantly, Leon frees Lianna from the familiar warmth of his arms, watching as she scoops Stickybun up and leaves the room. He can hear her footsteps on the tiles, quickly joined by the click of her Manectric’s claws, and then the sound of kibble being poured into a bowl. Lianna returns a moment later, quietly closing the door behind her before she sits on the edge of the bed.

For the first time, her bare back is turned towards him for more than a split second. Leon stares.

“I feel mean,” Lianna says, shaking her head at herself, “like I’m abandoning my child to suck dick.”

“Lee…”

“What? Do you feel mean, too?” she asks. Breakfast won’t distract Stickybun for more than fifteen minutes, and then she’ll be at the door, loudly reprimanding them for locking her out.

“Your back,” Leon says.

Lianna stiffens. She had forgotten. She had been cautious until now, always carefully selecting positions where her back was turned away from him most of the time, keeping him distracted with little strokes of his cock or kisses to his neck when she thought he might see. But, she had been so comfortable in that moment, domestically feeding her Pokemon before she slipped back into bed with Leon, that she had completely forgotten to be careful.

Her frontside is mostly untouched. There’s the crescent-shaped scar on her throat, but her skin is so fair that it’s nearly invisible unless someone is watching closely, and one small scar above her left breast, where stitches had gone in and come out two weeks later, faded mostly seamlessly into the skin. Her backside is another story altogether. Her shoulderblades are all scar tissue, wreathed from the back of her neck down to her tailbone. The skin grafts had helped greatly, but there was no completely concealing wounds to that degree.

“I know,” she breathes after a moment, “It’s bad.”

“You said it was bad,” Leon repeats, “but I never imagined...this.”

“I was lucky I didn’t die,” Lianna says, “The first time I saw how it looked after that, I wished I would have.”

Leon’s voice comes out small. “Does it hurt?”

“No, not anymore,” she reassures him, “but I don’t have a lot of sensation back there. I’m just glad it didn’t tear my entire face off. But I was face down when it happened, so that might have protected me. I don’t know. I try not to think about it.”

“I’m sorry,” is all Leon can think to say, before he’s sitting upright and gently combing his fingers through her hair. It falls through his fingertips like silk. He carefully tugs through a knot, untangling it. “Can I touch you?”

“Go ahead,” she says without hesitation. He smiles, massaging her shoulders with both hands for a moment before he carefully trails a hand over her back, between her shoulder blades. The scarred skin has the crepey texture of tissue paper. Lianna shudders and he stops, looking up at her for permission before he continues. She nods, and he leans in to kiss between her shoulder blades while his hand idly strokes her lower back.

Lianna smiles. “Most people prefer not to look at it, you know. Morbid fascination much, champ?”

“N-No,” he protests in a soft voice, “I just...I want to appreciate every inch of you.”

She shakes her head, smiling softly. “You’re such a hopeless romantic, you know that?”

“Is that a bad thing?” he asks.

She turns around, so she can cup his jaw and kiss him softly. “No. I think it’s charming. But, most things about you are.”

He gives her a goofy grin, gently squeezing her hips. Right now is when she would ordinarily sink down on his cock, straddling his lap, setting her pace, keeping things carefully in her control even as he penetrated her. But, Leon isn’t one of her one-night stands from Fletchinder, or some bastard from a bar that she can’t trust. He’s  _ hers _ . She trusts him. And he deserves something else.

“This time,” Lianna says she she lays down on her back on the mattress, among the rumpled sheets, beckoning him over with one finger, “I want you to top. Think you can handle that, prince?”

Grinning, Leon quirks a brow. “I can handle it, but can you?”

She laughs. “C’mere and find out.”

Lianna has fucked a lot in her life. One-night stands and casual hook-ups were as much as she could ever handle after Wes. She was afraid of intimacy, of a relationship, but she still had needs, so she turned to Fletchinder to satisfy her whenever it came up, then blocked numbers and ghosted hard until Rosa started to comment on what a legendary heartbreaker she must have been. But, what she hasn’t done a lot of is  _ lovemaking _ , which, she soon discovers as Leon’s cock rolls smoothly in and out of her while he peppers her throat and chest with kisses and whispers sweet nothings to her until her head spins, is something entirely different altogether. For her, this is almost insulting vanilla - military position, male on top of female - but it’s somehow the most overwhelmingly intimate thing she’s ever done and, for a moment, she thinks she might cry.

Pausing, Leon looks at her. “You okay, Lee?”

“I’m better than okay,” she says, one hand on his lower back while the other threads through his hair, smiling softly up at him, “I love you.”

He smiles, too. “I love you, too, Lee. Want me to keep going?”

“Duh,” Lianna chuckles, rolling her hips upwards to encourage him. He grunts, starting up another rhythm of rutting into her smoothly, his every movement so painstakingly considerate that she eventually has to encourage him to speed up. He does, and she moans into his ear and kisses him and whispers sweet nothings right back until he’s pulling out of her and releasing across her lower abdomen while she comes just hard enough to see stars for a split second before her head clears.

The first thing Leon says when he’s coherent enough to speak again is, “Sorry about the mess. Let me get you a towel.”

Lianna shrugs him off. “Don’t worry about it, I’m gonna shower, anyways.”

He’s already getting to his feet, but not before pressing another kiss to her temple and smiling down at her for a long moment. “I’ll make us some breakfast while you do that.”

Lianna smiles after him as he goes. “Try not to burn the kitchen down, champ. This house ain’t mine.”

* * *

Breakfast consists of pancakes from a boxed mix Leon found in the cabinet and bacon, but it suits them both perfectly well. After breakfast, Leon showers, then joins her on the sofa to check his email while they snuggle. There are half a dozen emails from Rose, which he muses over with a newfound sense of bitterness that Lianna promptly chases away with a kiss to his cheek and a head on his shoulder.

Leon turns on the TV around noon to watch the Spikemuth gym challenge. It isn’t nearly as heavily televised as the other matches, but there’s still a film crew out in Spikemuth to record the events. It’s usually the most uneventful of the challenges, not because Piers isn’t a good gym leader - quite the contrary, actually, he eliminates a good few competitors every year - but because there are no events preceding the battles and there are so few challengers left at this point that it takes only an hour and a half to conclude most years.

Aisling and Marnie have defeated Piers and Hop is about to challenge the dark-type gym leader when the feed suddenly cuts out in a fizzle of static.

Leon groans. “Ugh, this again…”

Lianna groans, too, mostly in secondhand frustration. Leon’s phone is ringing almost instantly and he reluctantly leaves the warmth of her arms to answer it, slipping outside to talk to who Lianna can only assume is Chairman Rose. She shudders at the thought of him. The skeevy bastard.

When Leon returns, there’s only static remaining of the gym challenge feed on the TV screen. He curses under his breath as he sits down, Stickybun immediately wriggling into his lap when she senses his distress, cooing softly.

“That’s right, Sticky,” Leon mumbles at her, “Fuck this.”

“Hey! Language!” Lianna remarks, covering Stickybun’s earholes as if it’s a word she might actually pick up and repeat.

Leon sighs wearily as he reclines his head against the back of the sofa, glaring up at the ceiling listlessly. “Guess I won’t be watching Hop’s match today.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Lianna is quick to reassure him, an arm around his shoulders, “He’ll understand. And we both already know he totally nailed it. No offense to Piers, but he didn’t stand a chance.”

“I know,” he says, “but I still wish I could’ve seen it. I missed out on so much back home, I just...don’t want to miss this part of his life, too.”

She frowns. “I know. I’m sorry,” she says, then after a moment, she adds, “What did Rose say?”

“A whole lot of nothing,” Leon retorts, brows tightening into a scowl, “Mostly just wanted me to know what was happening, I guess. Like I didn’t already know.”

Lianna touches his shoulder. He’s tense. “He sucks. This whole situation...sucks. I wish I knew what to do, just to take some of it off of you.”

“We could always have Kaizen electrocute something again,” Leon muses humorlessly, then looks down at her and starts to smile, “You help me just by being here. I know that sounds cliche, but...you really do. It’s harder to be stressed out about Rose or the energy crisis or the gym challenge when you’re…”

“Sucking the negative thoughts straight outta your cock? Yeah,” Lianna chuckles.

Leon laughs. “I was  _ going  _ to stay something romantic, but fine. Yeah, it’s hard to focus on  _ anything _ else when you’re sucking my dick.”

She smiles, but her face soon hardens with a frown and she cups his cheek, bringing his gaze down to meet hers. “Hey, I mean it, Leon. If there’s anything I can do to help, I wanna know, okay? I’m here for you.”

“I know you are,” he says, then leans down to kiss her for a moment before he pulls away, “The kids are probably done with Piers’ challenge by now. That means there’s only one gym left.”

“Raihan?”

“Right. He’ll eliminate a few more, if I had to guess, and then we’ll have our finalists,” Leon muses, “Raihan’s challenge is on Wednesday, and the finals are planned for Saturday as long as...as long as nothing else happens.”

She frowns. “You sound unsure.”

“I’m worried about more power outages,” he confesses, brow creased into a frown as he stares off across the room, at the TV screen still filled with static, “Spikemuth almost never has power these days, and Rose doesn’t care enough to fix it, so when the gym challenge rolls around every year, we have to get them back up and running just long enough to broadcast the matches. And then...they’re in the dark again ‘til next year.”

“Wow,” Lianna comments, “That’s awful. Rose literally threatened to have my parents thrown in prison if I didn’t help him emotionally manipulate my boyfriend, and yet I’m  _ still  _ surprised at what a shithead he is. How is he an elected official?”

“Most people think Rose is great,” Leon says, shrugging, and then he’s suddenly still, staring wordlessly at the floor for a moment before he adds, “And I guess that’s my fault.”

“None of this is your fault,” she protests immediately.

“People see me getting along with Rose and assume he’s trustworthy because they think  _ I  _ trust him,” he mutters, “I don’t. If I had been more honest about that, then maybe the people of Galar wouldn’t be in the situation they are now.”

“Leon,” Lianna says sternly, cupping his face in both hands, “Look at me. This is  _ not  _ your fault. None of this is your fault, and it never was. You’re not a government official. You’re the regional champion. Your job is to battle, not to fix all of Rose’s mistakes.  _ He  _ should know what to do about all this. Not you. Him. He’s used you to improve his public image since you were just a kid, and now he’s pressuring you again. Well, not on my watch, champ.”

She shushes him with a kiss to his forehead, one hand dropping from his cheek to seek out his hand and gently mesh their fingers together instead. “Not on my watch. Let Rose fix his own problems for once. He owns the coalmines, so he must have some sort of monopoly on the region’s power plants, since they’re coal-powered. So, this is his problem. And besides…” She trails off with a grin. “You have a championship match to worry about.  _ That’s  _ your problem, champ. I think Hop might be comin’ for ya.”

He smiles in spite of himself. “You know, I think you might be right about that. Hop’s one hell of a trainer, especially for a kid his age. Aisling, too. And Marnie’s not bad, either, she must have picked up on a thing or two from her brother.” Then, suddenly, he’s frowning again. “You know, they’re all just kids. Twelve, maybe thirteen. And if I lose to one of them, all of this…” He gestures to the general state of everything. “...becomes  _ their  _ problem. That’s a lot of stress to put on a kid that age.”

“I’m guessing you’ve been undefeated for so long for reasons other than your pride,” Lianna comments.

“Right again,” Leon says, frowning up at the ceiling again, “But, how could I ever say all of this to Hop? He’s always wanted to be champion, just like his big brother, and as proud as that would make me...I don’t want this for him.”

“Leon…” Lianna presses her face to the crook of his neck. “Have you ever...told anybody any of this? Talked to someone?”

“Who would I have talked to? Who do I know that I could trust to listen to all of this and not think I was...I was weak?”

Her hands are on his face again in an instant, guiding his gaze up to hers. There’s an intensity in her steady brown eyes, an earnesty. “You’re not weak, Leon. You’re human.”

He opens his mouth, but the protest dwindles and dies on his tongue when he sees that sincerity in her eyes - the same sincerity he’s looked at her with since day one.

She shakes her head, sinking back down into the sofa, bringing the warmth of her hands away with her with a sigh. Leon immediately leans down to rest his head on her shoulder, seeking that warmth out again. “All of this really reminds me why I hated being champion. It’s never as simple as just being the strongest trainer in the region. It’s...politics. It’s misplaced responsibility and blame. It’s...it’s such a mess.”

“Mmm…,” he hums, then sighs, “I wish that wasn’t the case. The gym challenge is my favorite time of the year, because I can usually sit back and relax and enjoy the battling, but this year...it’s been everything but.”

“I’m sorry, champ,” she tries to soothe him, fingers stroking idly at his hair, but she’s at a loss. She doesn’t know what to say or what to do. Then, out of the blue, she has a thought. “Why don’t we have a battle, Leon? One-on-one, like the night we met.”

Leon looks at her quizzically at first, then breaks out into a smile and even laughs. “Really? A battle? Right now?”

“I think it’ll make you feel better,” says Lianna, pressing a kiss to his temple, where she yet again feels the tension built-up in his head, “C’mon, champ, what do you say? Think you can handle round two with me?”

He chuckles huskily, already getting to his feet - but not before he gently removes Sticky from his lap, ignoring her protesting squeaks as he places her in the floor. “In the bedroom? Maybe, maybe not. But, on the battlefield? I can  _ more  _ than handle you, Lee.” He even cracks his knuckles at her, the goofball.

Lianna smirks. Kaizen seems to understand what’s amiss, emerging from the kitchen to stand eagerly by the back door, glancing back at her trainer to see if she’s really coming. “You’re on.”

* * *

Leon’s undefeated record remains unbroken for another day, as Charizard emerges from the battle victorious, but not before Kaizen has run him in circles for nearly half an hour. It’s more of a good-natured playful match than it is a competitive battle, but it seems to brighten Leon’s spirits, which is more than Lianna could’ve hoped for after the afternoon he’s had. The backyard, however, has lost half of its winter-barren shrubbery and crispy dead grass to Charizard’s flames and a stray lightning bolt from Kaizen struck a charred black mark into the pristine white picket fence that surrounds it.

“Let’s order takeout for dinner,” Leon says a few hours later, when he’s retreated to the sofa to cuddle with Lianna (and Sticky) while she channel surfs disinterestedly, and she agrees. He calls in their order and they walk through the snowy streets of Wyndon, hand-in-hand, to pick it up, with Stickybun waiting for them impatiently back at the rental home.

After dinner, the two shower to remove the built-up sweat from their battle, then retreat to Lianna’s bed to watch a movie. Stickybun and Popsicle are asleep in a wicker basket on the floor, beside a heap of Lianna’s unwashed laundry, and her other Pokemon are in the other room, where they usually sleep on the shag rug in the front room. So, Lianna sees no harm in casually slipping a hand beneath the waistband of Leon’s pajama pants to stroke his cock. He purrs, but blessedly keeps his voice down, so as not to wake her sleeping Pokemon.

“You,” Leon says after she strokes him to orgasm, which she cleverly catches in a tissue to prevent yet another mess, “are a little horndog, aren’t you?”

“Guilty,” Lianna chuckles, dragging him down into her arms to cuddle. It’s a little chilly in the house this time of the night and his warmth is comfortable, reassuring.

“You won’t catch me complaining,” he laughs, wrapping his arms around her. The movie plays in the background, forgotten, and Sticky snores wetly over its soundtrack. “I’m a lucky man, you know.”

She snorts. “You think that now.”

“I’ll always think that,” Leon stops her, “Even if we were to break up, I would still think I was lucky to have had you while I did. But...I hope we don’t. I love you, Lee.”

She smiles. “You’re sweet, champ. I love you, too. It still feels weird to say that, you know. But I think...I’m finally getting used to it.”

“Good,” he says against her ear as he nuzzles her ear. Her hair is still slightly damp from her shower and smells fragrantly of her shampoo. He hesitates for a moment, then asks, “Didn’t you ever love someone before me?”

Lianna looks at him, hesitating.

“You don’t have to answer - ,” he starts, but she stops him.

“I thought I loved Wes,” Lianna says, “Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t. But...after that, no, I didn’t want to love someone again. I was afraid something...something like  _ that  _ would happen again.” She looks at him again. “Did you?”

Leon thinks about it, then nods. “Yeah, one time.”

“Aww,” she teases, wrapping a stray lock of his hair around one finger and watching it slowly unfurl before she separates it into three pieces and starts to braid it, “Who was it?”

“Raihan,” Leon says and Lianna splutters in surprise.

“ _ That  _ Raihan?”

“Do you...know another Raihan?” he asks, grinning, “Yeah. That Raihan. I had a crush on him when we were younger, but…”

She’s curious now. “But?”

“Raihan’s only had eyes for Piers ever since we were kids,” Leon chuckles, remembering it fondly. It had hurt him back then, but he had always known, from the time that the three of them (and Sonia, whenever she managed to catch up) embarked on their own gym challenge more than a decade ago, that Raihan would only have Piers. And now, he’s only happy for them. “Those two were drawn together like magnets, babe. It was sweet, seeing polar opposites just...fall so hard for each other.”

“They  _ are  _ an unlikely pair,” she agrees, “But, Piers wouldn’t tolerate Raihan’s antics if he didn’t love him.”

“Oh, he does. Don’t let that calm facade of his fool you,” Leon says, notably mispronouncing facade, which makes her giggle, “Piers is a  _ sucker  _ for Raihan.”

“Kind of like how,” Lianna teases, rolling on top of him to look him directly in the eye, mindful of where she places her weight so as not to hurt him, “you’re a sucker for me, prince?”

Leon’s face softens with a smile, surprisingly tender. “Exactly like that, Lee.”

“I was just teasing you,” she chuckles as she cups his jaw, leaning in close, “Now I feel bad.”

“Don’t, it’s true,” he says, then kisses her, his hands absentmindedly gripping her hips. He comes away with a smile, glancing sideways at the alarm clock on her nightstand. “It’s getting late. I have a meeting with Rose at nine tomorrow, guess we should get some sleep.”

“Guess so,” Lianna says, rolling off of him to lay on her back in bed. He reaches for the hem of the sheet to pull it over them, settling in with his arms around her waist and his face nuzzled into her hair. “Hard to believe that, in a week, this will all be over. The gym challenge, I mean.”

“Yeah…” She can hear the frown in his voice. “And then, I guess...you’ll be moving back to Alola.”

“I’ll be back,” she reassures him, “Don’t you worry, champ. You’re not getting rid of me that easily. And...I’m hoping you’ll come visit me, too. My dads still have to meet you, y’know.”

“I know, but...I’m going to miss you, Lee,” he says, “Seeing you every few months is a lot different than seeing you almost everyday.”

“We’ll figure it out, Leon. I swear it.” She tilts her head back to look at him, smiling sadly. “I’ll miss you, too, you know.”

He sighs, but quietens down, when she suddenly wriggles out of his arms and gives him a nudge. “Roll over,” she says, grinning, “I’ll be the big spoon tonight.”

“What?”

“You’re sad,” Lianna states, “Let me cuddle you. Roll over.”

Leon obliges, smiling when she envelops him in a full-body, arms-and-legs wrangle to compensate for her much smaller size. He can feel her breath on his bare back, between his shoulder blades, smiling faintly as he closes his eyes. “G’night, Lee. Love you.”

“Goodnight, champ. Love you, too.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a mild BDSM sex scene in this chapter. It's not relevant to the plot at all and is completely skippable, so feel free to just jump over it if the content matter makes you uncomfortable! :)

Lianna kisses Leon goodbye before his morning meeting with Chairman Rose, then strides into the kitchen to make herself some breakfast, feeding Kaizen a piece of bacon from between her fingertips while Popsicle shrieks in protest. She silences him with a Razz berry that she’s carefully cut into pieces. She’s sitting down to enjoy a plate of pancakes with Stickybun when the front door clicks unlocked and Rosa comes in, her Lycanroc trailing behind her.

“Morning,” Rosa calls as she puts her things down, slinging her jacket over the back of the sofa and stooping to say hello to Kaizen when the Manectric comes to greet her.

“Morning,” Lianna replies, “You have fun with Aisling?”

“Yeah, I did,” Rosa answers with a murmur of something that might be pride in her voice. Lianna smiles; Rosa has always been a good big sister to her other sibling, currently residing in Kalos, and she’s happy to see that it’s no different with Aisling, however unexpected she had been. “She won her match against Piers.”

“Of course she did. Did you expect anything less?” Lianna asks.

Rose beams. “Not a chance.”

“Leon and I tried to watch the matches, but the coverage cut out when the power went out in Spikemuth again,” Lianna says, “Did Hop win his match, too?”

“Of course,” Rosa says, “Did  _ you  _ expect anything less?”

Lianna chuckles. “No, just making sure. We never got to see the results last night.”

“There weren’t a lot of people there,” Rosa remarks, “Spikemuth’s a pretty bleak place. Reminds me a lot of Po Town. Place is practically in shambles, the only really functional business is the Pokemon Center. You can’t even call a cab inside the city limits, you have to meet ‘em out on the route before you enter the city.”

Lianna frowns. “That sounds rough.”

“It is,” Rosa says, “Shame that Rose has let the place fall apart like that. I know Piers is really trying to get Spikemuth back on its feet, but he’s just one person, y’know?”

Lianna gives Rosa a sideways smirk. “Reminds you of someone else we know, hmm?”

Rosa smiles absentmindedly, her expression softening with unspoken fondness. “Yeah, Guzma would like him.”

“Somehow, I can’t see them getting along in anything but ideals,” Lianna chuckles, “Guzma can come on a little strong. Just like you.” She gives her best friend a playful shove as she passes her on her way to the sink to wash her dirty dishes.

“Hey!” Rosa laughs, picking Stickybun up off the kitchen table to cradle her to her chest gently, “So, what did you guys get up to while I was gone? Anything interesting?”

“Well, Leon came over,” Lianna replies over the wet drone of the faucet, “We had a rematch. Sorry about the backyard, by the way.”

“Oh, great, you guys weren’t fucking all over the furniture, were you?” Rosa remarks, suddenly backing away from the sofa, “I knew I should’ve brought a blacklight. Your thirsty ass never was good at keeping it in your pants.”

“Hey, we kept it in the bedroom!” Lianna retorts, though she laughs and adds, “Surprisingly.”

“Well, that’ll be a first,” Rosa snorts, Stickybun slithering up onto her shoulder to sit and look between the two of them curiously, “Anything else? Or did you spend the entire time I was gone sucking some champion dick?”

Lianna considers it, chewing anxiously on her lower lip. Rosa notices her sudden change in demeanor, crossing her arms suspiciously and prompting, “What? What did you do?”

“ _ I  _ didn’t do anything, I’ll have you know,” Lianna remarks, “The  _ chairman _ , being the charming gentleman that he is, called me to his office  _ personally  _ two days ago and threatened to have my dad thrown in prison if I didn’t help him emotionally manipulate Leon into agreeing with some asinine doomsday plan of his.”

Rosa stares at her. “I’m sorry?”

“Did I stutter?” Lianna asks.

“Rose  _ threatened  _ you?” Rosa prompts venomously, the anger already steadily building behind her voice as the big sister instincts lurch up from her depths, ready to fight tooth and nail, “What the actual  _ fuck _ , Lianna?”

“He did,” Lianna replies, “I’ve already talked to Leon. We decided to keep it under wraps until after the gym challenge, so Leon can focus on his championship match.”

“Oh, hell no,” Rosa says, “We’re going to the hardware store to buy a crowbar, and then we’re going straight to Rose Tower to confront that bastard. Chairman Fuckface has forfeited his rights to his kneecaps.”

“Rosa, we can’t exactly march into a guarded facility and physically assault a government official,” Lianna remarks, though she can’t help but smile, “This isn’t Alola, you know.”

Groaning, Rosa flops down on the sofa, silently praying that Lianna was telling the truth when she said she and Leon didn’t fuck on it. “You should have gotten some evidence. We could nail him.”

“Already one step ahead of you,” Lianna says, reaching for her Rotom phone and scrolling through the apps for a second, before she clicks play and the familiar voice of Chairman Rose fills the room,  _ You’ll do everything I ask of you, Miss Everton? _

Rosa grins maliciously. “You didn’t.”

“Former Team Magma Leader Maxie is my father,” Lianna remarks proudly, smirking smugly, “I know a thing or two about dismantling these ‘evil business venture’ types. I had a bad feeling right away when he called me to his office personally, so I told Rotom to record everything that was said until I left the room, and Rotom never lets me down. I’m guessin’ it’ll come in handy once the gym challenge is over and Leon decides to confront Rose, if he tries to pull anything else. At least, if the police get involved, we’ll have  _ some  _ evidence.”

“Look at you,” Rosa sneers, “Using your one brain cell.”

“Excuse you,” Lianna retorts, arms crossed, “I have  _ two  _ brain cells, thank you very much.”

Rosa chuckles, but her humor recedes back into a frown quickly. “I’m still pissed he had the nerve to threaten you, though. Chairman Fuckface better hope it’s sweet, humane, merciful Leon he bumps into next and not me, or he’s gonna have another thing coming.”

“Easy, Rosa,” Lianna says, “Leon and I can handle it ourselves. I think.”

“You said Rose threatened to go after your dad if you didn’t twist Leon into agreeing with his...doomsday plan? Rosa dares to ask, “What does that  _ mean _ ?”

Lianna ventures over to the sofa to sit and thrusts Stickybun back into Rosa’s arms. “Here, you might wanna hold onto her for some emotional support. This story’s a doozy.”

Lianna tells her everything - or at least, everything she knows, from what Leon had shared with her two nights ago. Chairman Rose wants to harness the energy that allows Pokemon to Dynamax into a form of electricity, but Leon thinks it could endanger the entire region if not done properly because of an old legend detailing a time when Dynamax Pokemon roamed freely and nearly destroyed all of Galar, before the Legendary Pokemon stopped it at its source. Eternatus, Leon had said. The Legendary Pokemon believed to control and distribute Dynamax energy throughout the region, which was why the phenomenon existed only in Galar. Rosa listens with rapt attention, but she, too, is at a loss when she hears Rosa’s nonsensical plan, fumbling with words before she finally says, “So, he’s off his rocker, then.”

“Leon says it’s because he’s desperate,” Lianna tells her, “He doesn’t know what else to do.”

“Rose owns the coalmines here, right? And Galar’s electricity is coal-based, right?” Rosa prompts, shrugging, “Sounds like someone just wants an easy solution to get him off the hook, now that his mines aren’t providing.”

“I have no idea what he’s planning or why,” Lianna replies, “I wasn’t planning on getting involved in some government conspiracy when you invited me to come on this trip. You’re usually the one who gets caught up in these things, not me.”

“You say that like you didn’t singlehandedly stop the destruction of the entire Hoenn region,” Rosa remarks, smirking at her knowingly.

Lianna looks away. “But I didn’t. Maxie and Archie were there to help me. We stopped it together. This is different.”

“Your Daddy ain’t here to protect you, no,” Rosa says, “But, he doesn’t need to be. Because you can protect yourself. Give yourself a little credit, Lee.”

Lianna shrugs. Rosa laughs and shakes her head, commenting, “You’re unbelievable sometimes, Lee. It’s like you’ve forgotten that  _ you  _ used to be a champion, too. When shit hits the ceiling, you’re as willing and able as me or Leon, and you know it.”

“I guess so,” Lianna answers weakly.

Rosa slaps her on the back. “You guess so? That’s it? I know so!”

Finally, Lianna cracks a smile. Rosa beams. “Thanks, Rosa,” she says, “Hey, Leon asked me this morning if we would like to meet him in Hammerlocke to watch the matches on Wednesday. What do you say? Wanna watch Aisling kick Raihan’s ass?”

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Rosa replies, grinning cheekily, “Let’s see who our finalists are.”

Lianna chuckles and retorts, “Like we don’t already know.”

* * *

Wednesday arrives. Lianna and Rosa are awake bright and early, meeting Leon in Hammerlocke to watch the final matches in the gym challenge before the championship cup in three days. Their Corviknight cab lights down in front of the stadium and, to no one’s surprise, Leon is nowhere to be found - until Lianna locates him two streets over and corrals him back to the stadium. It’s almost like a sixth sense now, knowing precisely where Leon is when he inevitably gets himself lost. Once the three of them are together, Leon leads them inside, scanning a cardkey to an employee-only entrance that grants them access to the box seats, high above the stadium, giving them one of the best views in the entire arena.

“We’re a little early,” Rosa remarks, “Anybody want snacks? Drinks? I’m gonna go grab something.”

“Popcorn is no substitute for breakfast, Rosa,” Lianna reminds her as she rises to venture off to the concessions stand, Leon passing her his keycard so she can get back in on her return. Rosa only rolls her eyes and smiles before she walks away.

Leon and Lianna are conversing quietly about the upcoming challengers and the championship cup when Raihan makes his appearance, crashing through the doors to the box seats entirely ungracefully, Rotom phone floating along beside him. “Hey, lovebirds! You two come to watch me weed out the weak links again this year?” he remarks with all the hyperactive energy of an excitable young Yamper as he plops down on a seat behind them. He’s chattering away instantly, his Rotom phone levitating in front of the three of them to take half a dozen selfies, in most of which Lianna and Leon are boasting surprised expressions.

Finally, Leon gently waves the Rotom away. “You sound excited. It’s almost like you’re not expecting to get your ass kicked by half a dozen more twelve-year-olds this year.”

“Oh, shush, champ,” Raihan remarks, grinning cheerily, flashing them a view of his curiously sharp canine teeth, before he punches the air and exclaims, “I’ve got a feeling! This is the year, Leon! I’m finally gonna take you down!”

Lianna laughs. “No offense, Rai, but you couldn’t even take  _ me  _ down a few weeks back, and I’m not even half as good as Leon. Sounds like  _ someone  _ might be getting replaced as Leon’s number one rival.”

But, Raihan takes it in stride, clapping her on the back and laughing. “Yeah, yeah, but that was a few weeks ago! Just you wait! And besides, you could never replace me! You might be his girlfriend, but I’ll always have a special place in your heart, won’t I, Leon?”

Leon looks at him wordlessly and Raihan laughs. “Oh, that’s cold, mate. Maybe I really  _ have  _ been replaced!” he remarks, tipping his head back with one arm cast over his forehead dramatically, “Whatever will I do?”

Leon claps him on the shoulder and smiles. “Maybe settle down a little and go get ready for your first match, mate. You’re awfully hyper today. Piers let you get into the espresso again?”

“Nope!” Raihan replies, popping the P, “I’m just  _ that  _ excited about today’s challengers!”

Chuckling, Leon waves him off. “Go on, then. They’re waitin’ for ya, mate.”

“Good luck, Raihan,” Lianna adds, grinning cheekily, “You’re gonna need it.”

Raihan leaves them, whistling a tune cheerfully, and Leon shakes his head, smiling softly when he looks at her and comments, “He’s always like this before a good match. Battling gets him all kinds of riled up and ready to go.”

Lianna smirks, glancing away coyly. “Reminds me of someone else I know.”

Smiling, Leon nuzzles her temple. He’s certain there’s a camera trained on them from somewhere, snapping photos in quick succession as he plants a kiss on her cheek and nuzzles up against her ear, but he doesn’t mind. Let them take photos. Let them make headlines. Let the entire region know that he loves her. “The champion cup’s coming up quick. What do you think, Lee? Is this the year I’m finally dethroned?”

Lianna smiles. “Nah,” she says, kissing his jaw, “Nobody can beat my champion.”

“Cheesy!” Rosa remarks as she reenters the box and immediately pitches a handful of overpriced stadium popcorn at the couple, most of which sticks in Lianna’s hair, “You two better stop making booboo eyes at each other and pay attention. First match is about to start. It’s Hop.”

There’s cheers from the audience as the stadium lights brighten, focusing on the pitch as Hop and Raihan step out onto the field, meeting in the middle to exchange good-natured verbal blows for a moment before the battle begins in earnest. It’s a hard-fought battle, but in the end, Hop’s Pokemon emerge victorious, Leon erupting into proud cheers from the box seats. Hop’s gaze flickers upwards and finds his brother overhead, his entire face lighting up so brightly that his cheeks must hurt from smiling so hard as he waves back enthusiastically. Then, Raihan is shaking his hand and sending him off with his congratulations, before he steps off-field to heal his team before the next match begins.

The next battle is with some blonde kid from Hulbury that neither Lianna nor Rosa ever memorized the name of, but he falls to Raihan’s superior prowess quickly. The next two challengers meet the same fate, and then Marnie emerges onto the pitch. When Raihan meets her in the middle of the field, he claps a hand over her shoulder and beams in a way that he didn’t with the other competitors, no doubt because she’s his boyfriend’s sister. Lianna can practically hear Marnie telling him to not go easy on her, right before she obliterated him with such ease that she and Rosa exchange a glance and have to laugh.

There’s a brief recession, and then Raihan defeats three more challengers in a row before his final match of the afternoon: Aisling. This battle is over before it’s even begun, Lianna knows. Aisling’s Scorbunny and Bolthund conquer Raihan’s team with the mastery of a much older and more experienced trainer, leaving Rosa whooping cheers from the box as Raihan shakes her sister’s hand and congratulates her on her victory. With that, the battles are over and done with for the day, Raihan waving cheerfully and beaming at the crowd while his Rotom phone flutters around him, shutter reeling as it struggles to keep up with all the selfies.

Now, only the championship cup remains.

Leon has on his gaudy cape again today. Lianna has grown incriminatingly fond of the silly thing and the way it frames his broad shoulders and sways with his hips when he walks. Right now, with that stupid cape hanging around his shoulders and his honey-golden eyes twinkling excitedly as he stands over the bannister and regards his competition in the arena below, he looks every bit the princely champion that Lianna knows he is. It’s blissfully easy in that moment to forget that anything bad is even happening in the peaceful region of Galar.

* * *

There’s a lot of energy at the table in Hammerlocke’s most popular curry venue when Leon offers to take them all out for dinner, corralling Aisling and Hop into a booth with Rosa while he sits beside Lianna across from them. Fifteen minutes later, drinks have arrived and a group hotpot has been ordered for all of them to share, Hop and Aisling excitedly yammering about their earlier victories while Rosa intercedes with some comments and pointers.

“Hey! Don’t give them advice on how to beat me right in front of me!” Leon teases, sipping his beer with a good-natured grin.

“Just you wait, Lee!” Hop jeers, “This time next week, there’ll be a new champion in town, and it’s gonna be me!”

“You think,” Aisling remarks, elbowing him playfully. He gives her a playful shove and they erupt into child-like giggles of glee and Lianna raises a brow at Rosa, silently pointing it out. Rosa only rolls her eyes and smiles in response.

“Either way, you’re going down, Lee! This is it, the end of an era!” Hop says excitedly. He’s bustling with energy, eager for battle, and reminds Lianna every bit of what she imagines a younger Leon would have been like. Aisling is calmer, more contained in her excitement, looking eerily like Rosa as she sits across from her at the table - which is soon occupied by a steaming curry hotpot as the waitress sets it down with both hands. Another follows close behind her, distributing plates of white rice to all of them and topping off the kids’ sodas and Rosa’s water. Lianna is a third of the way through a martini.

Things are relatively quiet for several minutes as a ladle passes around the table, each person pouring curry over their rice. Hop digs into his plate right away, clearly starved from his long day of battling, while Aisling politely unfolds a cloth napkin over her lap.

“Lianna!” Hop suddenly pipes up, “We haven’t formally met, have we? You’re really Lee’s girlfriend?”

Lianna chuckles at the suddenness of it, and the fact that there’s rice stuck to Hop’s chin. “I certainly hope so,” she remarks, giving Leon a sideways glance, “I’m sorry we haven’t met before now. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, but every time I see you at a match, you run off again before I can say hello.”

Hop grins sheepishly, licking his lips. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright, Hop. I understand, you’re eager to get on with your journey,” Lianna reassures him, sipping her drink before she starts to eat her own curry. Beside her, Leon smiles, giving her thigh a slight nudge underneath the table.

“The people on the telly say you’re a champion, too, Lianna! All the way from Hoenn!” Hop chirps, eager to know more.

“Former champion,” Lianna corrects him gently, smiling, “I’ve been retired for years now.”

“But, she still battles like an absolute monster,” Leon chimes in. Lianna scoffs at him.

“It’s true, Lianna’s even beaten me a time or two,” Rosa agrees, grinning with her cheeks stuffed with food, “But she won’t admit it.”

“Oh, c’mon, that was  _ one  _ time,” Lianna says dismissively, “I’m nowhere near Leon’s skill level.”

“We should battle!” Hop says, punching the air eagerly, nearly spilling his drink before Leon deftly catches it and sets it back down on the table, further from the edge this time.

Lianna chuckles. “You certainly are Leon’s brother.”

“Hop, settle down and let her eat,” Leon chuckles good-naturedly, halfway through his own plate already. He takes big bites.

“Aww,” Hop laments.

“We can battle sometime, if you like,” Lianna pipes up, then chuckles, “Just don’t be too disappointed when I beat you.”

Hop grins in delight. “You’re on!”

“Oh, now you’ve done it,” Leon laughs, then gives Lianna’s cheek a nuzzle.

Rosa boos them. “Hey, not in front of the kids! Jeez, you two.”

“Relax, Rosa,” Lianna chuckles, “It wasn’t even a kiss.”

“And besides, I’m really happy for them!” Hop adds.

Dinner passes by quickly, with conversation keeping them occupied long after the food is finished. Finally, Rosa suggests that Aisling and Hop are “up past their bedtime,” even though it’s barely seven, to which the preteens answer with adamant protests before she corrals them out of the booth and drops a large bill on the table as a tip. 

“See you two tomorrow, yeah?” Rosa prompts.

Lianna quirks a brow. “Where are you going?”

“Oh, don’t you know?” Rosa chuckles, grinning cheerily, “Aisling and I are having a  _ sleepover _ in the wild area tonight. I haven’t had a sleepover since I was a kid.”

“We’ve been having a sleepover every night for the past month,” Lianna jeers, then gives her a good-natured nudge, “You two be safe. I know you both can more than handle yourselves, but still. The wild area’s a little...y’know, wild.”

Leon covers their tab, adds to Rosa’s tip, and shuffles out of the booth behind Lianna. “Uh-oh, sounds like I’m gonna have you all to myself again tonight,” he teases, bumping hips with her. Lianna swats him with a sharp scold of “Leon!” before he chuckles and meanders over to Aisling and Hop to say goodbye.

Rosa glances at Lianna. “Try to keep it in the bedroom, yeah?”

“No promises,” Lianna replies with a cheeky grin, before Rosa chases her out of the restaurant with a disapproving shout. Outside, Leon is hugging both of the kids with his cape - he  _ really  _ wore that damn cape to dinner - draped over their shoulders like a faux velvet curtain while he takes a selfie with them. Lianna smiles at the sight.

Rosa invites Hop along on their camping trip, but he politely declines and bolts off like a flash of lightning to resume his training, although the daylight is dwindling too quickly for him to really make any more use of it tonight. She shrugs, then makes off with Aisling for the wild area, leaving Lianna and Leon alone.

“So,” Leon says, raising a brow with a knowing, eager grin, “My place or yours?”

“Mine,” Lianna replies, smirking right back at him, “I have something in mind for tonight, champ.”

“Oh?” he prompts.

She’s already walking towards the nearest Corviknight cab station, peering back at him over her shoulder with eyes half-lidded with suggestion. “It’s a surprise.”

Leon jogs after her a little too eagerly, earning himself another chuckle, before Lianna waves a cab over and the two of them are off for Wyndon.

* * *

The rental home is quiet, Lianna flicking on the lights in the kitchen as she escorts Leon inside. All of her Pokemon, Stickybun regrettably included, are safe in their balls from their day-long outing, securely out of the way for whatever the rest of the evening might entail.

Leon’s lips are on the back of her neck in an instant, his arms around her waist before she even has the chance to sit her bag down by the door. She purrs, “Easy, champ.”

“You can’t blame me,” he rumbles in her ear, “when I have to spend the entire day looking at you dressed like that.”

“You mean, in regular clothes?” Lianna prompts with a throaty chuckle.

“You look good in anything,” he mumbles into her throat as he presses a tender kiss to her collarbone, “But those shorts? That’s a crime, baby.”

Smirking, Lianna takes his hand and guides it to rest on her backside. He hums, squeezing one buttock appreciatively. “But, before we get started,” he interrupts himself unexpectedly, slinging his backpack off his shoulder to rummage through it for a moment before withdrawing a little black box. For a terrifying moment, Lianna is worried he’s about to propose to her, in a kitchen that isn’t even hers, with his cock half-hard against her backside, strapped into too-short shorts with ruffled lace edges - but then, he flips the box open to reveal a dainty, silver wristband attached to a square black screen. He pulls it out, reaching for her wrist to strap it on her carefully, before leaning back to admire his work.

“It’s a Dynamax band,” Leon explains when he sees her visible confusion, smiling and pressing a kiss to her temple, arms already back around her, tugging her satchel off of her shoulder to set beside his backpack on the table, “I thought we should have at least one  _ true  _ Galarian-style battle before you leave. And, when you’re back in Alola, it’s a little something to remember me by.”

Lianna smiles at him, meeting his eye. “A  _ real  _ battle, hmm? Think this’ll be the one where I finally hand your ass to you?”

“Not a chance,” he chuckles into her ear, “You’re not defeating the undefeated champion that easily. Even if you are terribly cute.”

“I love it,” she says earnestly, pecking his cheek, “Thanks, champ. I’ll be sure to make good on that promise to battle you again after the champion cup.”

“I can’t wait,” he replies, before he breaks off to trail kisses down her neck.

“Coincidentally,” Lianna chuckles, “I have a little something for you, too. But you’ll have to come to the bedroom to see it.”

He raises a brow, smirking up at her from where he rests his chin on her shoulder. “Oh, really?”

Lianna is already shrugging him off and halfway down the hallway, pausing briefly to peer back at him over her shoulder, blinking bursts of  _ come hither  _ off her thick black lashes before she disappears into her bedroom, shedding her flannel shirt as she goes. Leon follows her like a Frosmoth drawn to lamplight, walking in on her seated on her bed with her legs stretched out in front of her, one of them bent at the knee. She’s stripped down to her frilly pink bra and those criminally tight-fitting shorts already, the snapback she always wears hanging precariously onto the back of her head. Instantly, Leon feels his cock twitch in interest. It isn’t even an especially sexy get-up, Lianna just has a way of  _ making  _ it look good.

She spread her legs, welcoming him into her arm as he climbs on top of her, shedding his cape and letting it crumple to the floor in a faux velvet heap. Their lips meet, Lianna’s parted eagerly, beckoning his tongue between them to wetly tangle with hers for a moment before she pulls away, bringing a string of saliva with her. She leans back and fixes him with an intense stare from behind those glasses lenses, deceivingly nerdy on a vixen like her, and slowly, slowly trails her tongue along her lower lip, breaking that string.

Leon swallows and leans back on his heels, tugging his shirt over his head, getting stuck in its collar only briefly in his excitement. She chuckles, husky and deep, and drags him down again, kissing him intently with one hand cupping his jaw while the fingers of her other trail through his shaggy purple hair. His snapback hits the sheets beside them silently. But, as fast as she came, she’s pulling away, his lips chasing after hers for a moment before he realizes that she’s stopped.

Lianna rummages through the drawer to the nightstand, first emerging with a chain of condoms that she drops on the bed beside them and then with…

Leon swallows hard. “Oh. Is, uh...is that a collar?” he prompts, sheepishly.

“You remember your safeword, prince?” she asks with a smirk like a Nickit that’s gotten into a Torchic coop, fingers twirling delicately around the length of leather leash attached to the matching black collar, accented with a gold buckle, O-ring, and big, blocky, metallic letters along one side that read  _ PRINCE _ . 

He licks his lips thickly, cock twitching needily against the suddenly too-tight fly of his trousers. “I do.”

Lianna looks at him. “Say it.”

“It’s Dynamax,” Leon says and Lianna rewards him with a smile, unclasping the collar and slowly bringing it around his thick neck, but she looks to him for permission before she fastens it.

“This okay, champ?” Lianna prompts, “Talk to me, Leon.”

“It’s okay,” he reassures her, smiling so softly in spite of what’s about to transpire, “Go ahead, Lee. I trust you.”

“Good boy,” she says, clicking the collar closed. His measurements were a guess when she snuck down to the Wyndon sex shop two nights ago, with a hood drawn tight around her face so no one recognized her, just imagining how wild the media would run with a story about the champion’s girlfriend stringing him up with bondage gear, so she’s more than satisfied when it fits snugly but not uncomfortably around his pretty neck. She straightens it up, so the block lettering faces her when she stands on her knees, tips his head back, and smothers him with a kiss.

Fingers knot in the hair at the base of his neck, holding him gently in place while her tongue rolls smoothly against his, her other hand trailing along his bare front to trace the ridges and valleys of the plane of his stomach, well-muscled from years of training, marked with the occasional scar from battles gone awry but still won, until her fingertips reach the hem of his pants. She fumbles with the button, cleverly undoing it with two fingers, then tugs down his fly to fondle the bulge of his mostly hard cock through the thin fabric of his underwear. There’s a spot right at the front of them where pre has soaked straight through, dampening her palm as she rubs at him for a moment before finally prying her lips away.

Lianna squeezes his straining cock gently. “So hard for me already, Leon,” she purrs, lips just barely grazing his while that hand in his hair keeps him steady, exactly where she wants him, “So  _ eager _ , aren’t you, prince?”

“U-Uh-huh…,” he mumbles dumbly, dazedly chasing her lips before the fingers in his hair remind him that she’s in control. His lips part, panting softly.

“Tell me what you want, champ,” she says, those fingers in his hair loosening their grip and gradually falling away to trail long nails down the length of his spine instead, as she sinks down to her elbows in front of him, bringing his pants down to his knees with her. His cock throbs in his boxers and she smirks, those steady brown eyes watching him  _ dangerously _ .

“I want  _ you _ ,” Leon purrs, voice thick with arousal, keeping his hands behind his back without her even having to ask, such a  _ good  _ boy, “I want you, Lianna.”

“You’re going to have to be a little more specific than that, champ,” she hums, circling his cock head with one fingertip through the fabric of his underwear, “Tell me what you  _ want _ , and maybe I’ll give it to you. Just maybe. Because  _ I’m  _ in control right now, aren’t I, prince?”

“Y-Yes,” he pants, feeling like he could quite possibly come just from this if she keeps peering up at him through her gorgeous lashes like that and purring at him oh-so-sweetly.

“Yes…?” Lianna corrects him.

“Yes, ma’am,” Leon catches on right away and she smiles. He’s a natural. “I want you to suck my dick, please, ma’am.”

“Such a good boy,” she croons at him, before dragging his underwear out and down, over the thick shaft of his erection, throbbing pointedly in the sudden cool of the bedroom air as she frees it from its fabric prison, wrapping slender fingers around its base and giving it the gentlest possible squeeze. He hisses, hips twitching into her grip in delight, and she clicks her tongue at him scoldingly until he finds it in himself to still his hips.

“L-Lianna, please,” he huffs softly, breath coming in hot, heavy puffs already.

“Alright,” Lianna rumbles, flicking her tongue smoothly along the slit in his cock head, lapping up the pre he’s drooling so copiously along its plump, veiny underside, “Since you’ve been such a good boy, I suppose I can give you a reward now. You want this, champ? You want me to suck your cock and make you come?”

“I do,” he half-says, half-moans at the touch of her tongue, already cleverly encircling his cock head for another taste before her plump lips part and surround him, “I want it so much…”

Lianna slides halfway down the length of his shaft, feeling his cock head pushing stubbornly against the entrance to her throat. She swallows hard, forces herself to relax, and presses forward, his cock gliding smoothly down her throat until her nose is nuzzled into the neatly groomed bush of purple curls at its base. She swallows around his shaft, her throat tightening up, and he gasps, reaching for her head without permission, but she forgives him, letting his fingers clutch desperately at her hair for now. It’s his first time, after all, and he’s been such a good boy.

She bobs backwards, his cock emerging from her lips slick with saliva and glistening wet, and he moans so loudly that she’s certain he must have alerted the neighbors, smirking as she slides right back down on him, taking him to the hilt. He whimpers sweetly, hips twitching despite his best efforts, nearly choking her on his cock before he corrects himself and tugs it away. Lianna bobs back and forth twice more, then comes off his cock with a comically wet pop of her lips when he starts to keen and shuffle his hips, already chasing an orgasm that she’s entirely too keen to deny him - for now.

Panting, Leon looks down at her, honey-amber eyes darkening with arousal at the sight of her deep red lipstick smudged from his cock. She plants a final kiss on its head, then raises onto her knees to kiss him. He meets her halfway, fingers finding her hips and squeezing them gently through those devilishly cheeky shorts, kissing her with the same sincerity and passion he puts into everything he does. She comes away panting faintly, breasts rising and falling sharply in their satiny pink bra, trimmed in pale white lace that blends in seamlessly with her fair skin, as she breathes a little heavier. “Leon,” she says, softly but urgently, “I need to fuck you.”

He chuckles, already leaning back on his elbows in anticipation of being ridden. “I need you to fuck me, too, Lee. Holy shit. You’re  _ so  _ good at this.”

Lianna laughs huskily, reaching for the leash still hanging halfway out of her nightstand drawer and tearing a condom off the chain, ripping the wrapper open eagerly with her sharp little teeth. “You’re doing pretty great yourself, champ,” she purrs up at him through heavily lidded eyes, rolling the condom - size large, she thinks to herself with delight - onto his twitching cock, “You’re a natural.”

“A-Am I?” he prompts, cheeks suddenly flushed bright red, red enough to rival even her lipstick as she comes in for another kiss, giving his cock a pump to make sure the condom is secure. 

“Oh, yeah,” she croons, nice and husky, clipping the leather lead to his collar, “You’re  _ such  _ a good little prince, aren’t you, Leon?”

Leon’s gaze sweeps over her figure appreciatively, hooking a finger underneath the hem of her shorts to tug them down, when she unexpectedly swats him away. “Uh-uh-uh, champ. Not until I tell you, understood?” she corrects him.

He nods eagerly, melting back into the sheets as she straddles him, that leash wrapped loosely around one fisted hand. “Yes, ma’am,” he hums, fingers sweeping appreciatively along the creamy soft flesh of her thighs, earning him another gentle swat. He chuckles. “Sorry. You’re just so...touchable.”

“If I’m so touchable,” Lianna lulls, rolling her hips dangerously close to his face, close enough that he can feel the warmth that practically  _ radiates  _ off of her in waves, “Maybe you can touch me here, hmm?”

“Anything for you, Lee,” he purrs delightedly, reaching again for those shorts that made her round little ass look  _ so  _ good, tempting him from afar all day while he struggled to keep it together in front of Aisling and Hop and the general public that would eat him alive if he copped a feel on his girlfriend’s backside in public. He had always been so well-behaved, so polite, so  _ innocent _ , but Lianna makes him want to misbehave.

“Go ahead, prince,” she says, and he’s tugging her shorts down to her knees in an instant. She lifts one leg, then the other, letting him slide them off of her before kicking them off of her ankle, where they land on the other end of the bedroom, forgotten.

Leon stops and stares at her. He stares for a long, long moment, then tentatively glances back up at her, lower lip trembling as he glides his tongue along it nervously. “Uh, n-no underwear? You were…? All day?”

Lianna relishes in his reaction, grinning cheekily. “That’s right, prince.  _ All day _ .”

He swallows hard, fingers tightening on her hips. “M-May I?”

“Of course, baby,” she coos, gently guiding herself down on him. He squeezes her hips hard in anticipation as her smooth labia roll over his kiss-swollen lips for the first time. He eagerly parts them with his tongue, his lips vibrating with a groaning purr, his hips twitching upwards in arousal as he tastes her, thick and heavy, slick and ready. His tongue rolls over her clit, slipping it out from underneath its arousal-engorged hood, and she yelps. He stops, glancing up at her with his brows raised in concern. She nods. “It’s okay, champ. Go ahead, it just felt really good. You’re doing great. Maybe you should…” Her hand gently cups his head, guiding him back in. “Do it again.”

Leon doesn’t have to be told twice. His clever little tongue - such a quick learner, such a good boy - encircles her clit once more, clumsily at first, before he zeros in on it, eyes squeezed closed as he sucks at it eagerly, until her hips at bucking at his lips and she’s pulling his leash taut around his neck and singing with a breathy moan. “O-Okay, prince, that’s enough,” she commands him after awhile, huffing softly, “Phew. Keep that up and I’m gonna come all over that pretty little face of yours.”

“Really?” he quips, pressing a kiss to her inner thigh and grinning up at her, “I think that might be a good look for me.”

He doesn’t miss how Lianna’s hips twitch, breaking through the facade of control and dominance for a moment, chuckling softly against her inner thigh before he leans back and releases her lips, letting her move. To his surprise, she climbs off of him, tugging on his leash until he leans forward onto his elbows, then tugging still until he’s getting up on his hands and knees.

“You look so fuckin’ cute like this,” she teases him, cupping his jaw and kissing him sweetly, “My sweet little prince, looking so handsome in his collar and leash. You’re so fucking hot, Leon. You have no idea.”

“Really? You should see yourself,” Leon rumbles with a growling purr, breaking character for a moment to eagerly press kisses against her throat, before he catches the tender skin between his teeth and nips her hard enough to bruise. She hums in delight, then gives his leash a sharp tug, positioning herself on her hands and knees before him. Her snapback has long since fallen off, landing somewhere beside his, and her lipstick is smudged from sucking his cock, her hair falling in loose curls around her sweat-shiny shoulders. It’s incredibly hot.

“You’re such a good boy,” Lianna croons at him over her shoulder - again with the bedroom eyes, is she trying to kill him? - with a bat of her lashes, “Why don’t you fuck me like a dog, Leon?”

Chuckling, Leon rises onto his knees, but has to keep his head bent low due to how tightly she’s gripping his leash, practically salivating at the sight of her bent double in front of him as he grasps her hips, squeezing softly. “Woof,” he teases, testing her entryway with one finger before he withdraws it and, without another word, presses his cock inside of her. But, even now, he can’t bring himself to thrust inside all at once with one hard shove, entering her slowly, gently, until his hips are flush to her backside and she’s keening so sweetly underneath him. “Feels so good…,” he whimpers softly, craning forward to nip her gently on the shoulder. She still has her bra on, but that doesn’t stop him from cupping one hand underneath her to fondle her breasts for a moment, appreciating every inch of her and swathing her shoulder in a wet, sloppy lick before he finally rears back and thrusts into her again, drawing a sharp moan from her juicy lips.

“A-Ah…,” Lianna pants, grinning up at him over her shoulder as his short dark facial hair tickles her skin, “T-That fucking cock, Leon. I swear, you missed out on the good life as a porn star when you became champion.”

He chuckles into her neck, moaning sharply when she tugs on his leash lightly, thrusting balls-deep into her yet again. “W-Wouldn’t that be something, huh? I bet that’s merch that would really sell, porn featuring the champion,” he hums in bemusement, then sinks his teeth into the side of her neck, eagerly sucking a hickey on her pale skin, “and his sexy redheaded girlfriend. Raihan says I’m a lucky man, everyone goes wild for a redhead. Is that true?”

Lianna rolls her eyes at his innocence, but it’s quickly forgotten when he thrusts into her again, somehow managing to hit all the right places, all at once. He really is a dream come true, in every sense of the phrase, pornstar cock included. “O-Oh! I-It is…” She trails off in a panting huff, then smiles. “It is for this redhead, hmm?”

Grinning, Leon thrusts again, enjoying the way her brows draw together tightly and her lips form a little O shape when he hits just the right spot. He’s been carefully familiarizing himself with her body, memorizing the things she likes and the places that feel best for her, like the blessedly considerate partner he is. “Y-Yeah, you bet it is, babe…,” he huffs into her shoulder, and then gasps sharply when she tugs on his leash hard, his hips following the forward motion of his body eagerly and sending his cock pressing deep inside her, making her moan his name sweetly. It sounds oh-so-good on her tongue.

“F-Fuck,” she says sharply, “C-C’mon, champ. Fuck me harder. Like you mean it.”

“Like this?” he rumbles, cock pulling out of her until only the head is still inside her, then spearing back into her to the hilt. She yelps with a moan, jerking on his leash harder than she meant to, and he moans, hips pistoning backwards and thrusting into her again, hard. He might have thought this was too rough, if Lianna wasn’t singing with moans underneath him and saying his name like a  _ prayer  _ and his cock wasn’t throbbing so eagerly inside her pulsating wet inner walls, so wonderfully slick around him. 

It’s downhill from there, Leon eagerly chasing his orgasm while Lianna holds onto his leash like a lifeline, that collar digging sweetly into the hide of his neck, and comes so hard that her vision blurs black for a moment and she thinks she’s losing her sanity for a split second before it all comes rushing back, leaving her mindlessly panting and sweating on the heavily rumpled bed sheets while Leon empties his load inside her, gripping her hips just hard enough to bruise. But, she doesn’t care. Marks from Leon are marks she’ll wear with pride anyday.

She must be too quiet, because Leon presses a gentle kiss to the side of her neck, purring gently against her ear, “You okay, Lee? That was pretty rough.”

“Oh,” Lianna huffs, breathless, “Oh, Leon, sweetheart, I am  _ more  _ than okay. Holy shit, babe. Where have you  _ been  _ all my life, not fucking me like that every night?”

Leon chuckles wordlessly. Lianna releases her hold on the leash and he leans back onto his heels. She crumples onto the sheets like a ragdoll, his cock sliding out of her, and he takes a moment to remove the condom, tie it off, and toss it before he flops right down beside her.

“Here, champ,” she says after a minute, gradually regaining her senses, “Lemme get that off you.” Her fingers deftly unclip the leash, then the collar, pulling it away from his throat. He touches the place where it had been a moment before, the space feeling eerily empty now. It’s a little sore, but nothing more. “There. Didn’t even leave a bruise,” she comments, giving him a kiss on the raw red ring the collar had bitten into his throat. He smiles.

“So,” Lianna starts, reaching for the packet of wet wipes she leaves on her nightstand in case of Stickybun-related messes in the middle of the night, it’s just part of living with a Goomy to her now, “What did you think?”

“I think,” Leon says, hissing softly in overstimulation while she wipes his dwindling cock down, until it lays limp and clean between his thighs, “you can put a collar on me anytime you want if we’re gonna fuck like that.”

“Did you really like it?” she asks, “Don’t say yes just to spare my feelings, babe. I want to know how you really feel.”

“I feel,” he chuckles huskily as he watches her wipe her inner thighs down, between her legs still a hopelessly sticky wet mess, “like I might be a sub.”

“Leon,” she giggles, “Where did you even hear that? You were a bumbling virgin this time last week, and now you’re telling me you know what a sub is?”

“Of course I know what a sub is,” he retorts, grinning as she pitches the wet wipes away and nestles into his side, chasing aftercare right into his arms and planting a kiss on his collarbone, “Raihan and I talk, you know. And that man has one hell of a dirty mouth on him.”

Lianna chuckles. “I can see it,” she says, then, after a moment, adds, “I bet Piers is the dom.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny what I’ve heard,” Leon says, laughing as he nestles his face into the crook of her neck, suddenly acutely aware of how tired he is. He’s been up since 6AM. He doesn’t know how long they had sex for, but he doesn’t care, he’s exhausted and Lianna is soft and warm and better than any pillow, especially now that she’s unclasped her bra and freed her modest little breasts, beckoning for him to rest his head on them. He answers their call, settling in with a contented sigh. “I think this is the most relaxed I’ve ever felt in my life.”

“That good, huh?” she teases him, but smiles, stroking his hair, “You look tired. Get some rest, baby. You’re gonna need it for your big match in a few days. Are you excited?”

Leon smiles up at her. “Like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Glad to hear it,” she says, her own eyelids suddenly feeling heavy as the weight of their strenuous activity catches up with her, fingers stilling in his hair, “Goodnight, Leon.”

“Night,” he says, and then he’s out like a light. 


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I am, yet again struggling to make sense of the plotline of a Pokemon game. Help me.

_ Thursday. _

Leon wakes before Lianna, only slightly sore from the night’s fervent administrations, with the slightest tinge of pink in a thick ring around his throat where the collar left him raw. It will fade before dinner. But, right now, his thoughts are on breakfast, pressing a kiss to Lianna’s forehead before he rises to make them pancakes from a boxed mix, Stickybun glaring at him crankily when his movements disturb her. Rosa returns from the wild area that evening, announcing that Aisling is on her way to Wyndon. But, even with her return, Leon stays the night again, if only to steal a few more moments beside Lianna, who looks deceptively sweet curled up against him underneath the rumped sheets, before the championship match and her inevitable return to Alola.

His heart pangs at the thought.

_ Friday. _

Leon has a meeting with Chairman Rose early in the morning, kissing Lianna on the cheek as she pours herself a cup of straight black coffee before he heads out into the bitter cold of the Wyndon sunrise. Lianna doesn’t hear from him the rest of the day, but doesn’t mind. She knows that he’s busy with preparations for the first day of the champion cup the following afternoon.

But, she does hear from Chairman Rose, her phone pinging on the kitchen table as she pours kibble into a stainless steel bowl for Kaizen and Poseidon.

_ I thought we had a deal, Miss Everton. _

She frowns at the message lingering on her phone screen with a sinking feeling in her gut. Then, it pings again, a second message quickly joining the first.

_ Try harder. You can convince him. I know you can. _

But, Leon said he would protect her and protect her parents and Lianna trusts him even more than she trusts herself, trusts him in a way she never expected to trust another human being again, so she sits her phone back down on the kitchen table, face down, and ignores it.

That night, Lianna tosses and turns in bed. Stickybun gripes at her whenever her movements disturb her from where she’s sleeping beside Lianna’s pillow. She can’t shake the sinking feeling that tomorrow is the beginning of the end: the remaining challengers will face off for the right to compete against the champion. Whoever wins tomorrow’s matches will face Leon on Sunday. By Monday morning, Leon will either have defended his title as undefeatable or there will be a champion - and Lianna will be packing for her boat back to Alola the next morning.

She thinks about it. She misses Archie and Maxie. She misses the rest of her team back home, the Pokemon who were deemed invasive species by the Galarian government and not allowed to cross into its borders as a necessary precaution. She misses Alola itself, too, with its warm beaches and fair weather, nothing like the bitter cold of the city that she’s made her home for the past month and a half in this rental home. But, when she returns to Alola, she’ll be missing something else.  _ Someone  _ else.

When Rosa had invited her on a vacation to Galar, Lianna had expected to come and go within the span of two weeks, not well over a month, and leave with only the quickly fading memories of another region and its Pokemon league. Leon was a variable she never could have accounted for. She didn’t expect to be here long enough to even make friends, much less  _ fall in love _ , the thing that she had sworn to herself, nine years ago, at the very young, very impressionable age of fifteen, that she would never do again. And yet, here she is, writhing and rolling in bed because she’s in love, in love with the reigning world champion, of all the ridiculous things that could happen, and she’s going to miss him terribly once she’s back home.

Lianna checks her phone, chained to its charger in the outlet beside her bed. Her lockscreen is a silly selfie of Leon grinning at the camera with his tongue stuck out, Stickybun dangling off his shoulder and trying to mimic his expression with her goofily wide mouth. Then, in spite of herself, she smiles, puts her phone back down, and tries to rest.

It’s the wee hours of the morning before sleep finally claims her.

_ Saturday. _

Lianna’s alarm beckons her from slumber too soon. She sits up blearily in bed, rubbing her eyes, while Stickybun sits beside her in a half-melted puddle of goo and glares at the general existence of everything. Lianna scratches between her antennae, then reluctantly leaves the warmth of her bed to strip out of her pajamas and mull over the contents of her closet for longer than she cares to admit. She eventually decides on casual black slacks with a pale purple button-up shirt with a green collar and cute little graphics of Goomies and Pokepuffs patterned on the chiffon fabric. She feels more put-together once she’s completed the look with her favorite snapback, sitting backwards over her neatly groomed hair as always, a black choker, and the Dynamax band Leon had given her three nights before. Kaizen, Poseidon, and Popsicle are already ready to go, tucked neatly into their Pokeballs in her satchel, so Lianna collects a very cranky Stickybun off the bed and meets Rose in the kitchen before joining her on their brisk walk to the Wyndon stadium.

She stops along the way to buy a paper bag full of assorted breakfast pastries from a nearby bakery for them, saving several of them for Leon, knowing that he’s probably been up since before the crack of dawn and still hasn’t eaten breakfast. Stickybun, much more awake now, is gnawing on one of them eagerly on her shoulder when they arrive.

The Wyndon stadium has been beautifully decorated for the championship cup, the reception area bustling with employees who are hanging the final streamers, sweeping the freshly polished floors, and getting ready for ticket sales at the front desk. Rosa heads off to the gym leader lounge, where she’s been invited to hang out until the matches start, while Lianna goes off in search of Leon.

Lianna is about to round the corner into one of the employee-only areas, blatantly ignoring the sign that says such, when she hears a familiar voice. She stops, lingering at the corner where she can listen unchecked, a hand rising to shush Sticky before she can croon at her questioningly.

“I’m sorry, Leon, but this is how it has to be. It has to be you,” Chairman Rose says, “The Galarian people trust you. You can endorse our idea to awaken Eternatus and use it to put a permanent end to the energy crisis. You’ll be more than champion, Leon! You’ll be a hero! Doesn’t the fate of Galar matter to you?”

“I’m sorry, Rose, but I’m not going to agree to this,” Leon says, as he’s said a hundred times before, “It’s dangerous. We can’t go through with it.”

There’s pregnant silence for a moment, the tension palpable even from around the corner where Lianna stands and listens. Then, Rose chuckles darkly and says, “Well, Leon, if you’re not going to comply with your chairman, then I suppose I’ll just have to take matters into my own hands.” A moment more of silence and then he adds, “How’s that sweet little trophy girlfriend of yours, Leon? What was her name again? Everton, I believe? You two seem  _ terribly  _ happy together, it would be a shame if something came between you, wouldn’t it?”

Leon’s voice hardens. She can practically hear the furrow of his brows and the frown gnarling his pretty features. “Leave Lianna out of this. She’s innocent, just like the thousands of people you’ll be screwing over if you go through with this, chairman. Why don’t you stop focusing on intimidating the two of us and focus on finding a  _ real  _ solution to our problem instead? I’ve already arranged for us to speak with the professor about potentially installing solar panels and windmills to provide additional sources of -”

“You’ve grown stubborn with age, Leon,” the chairman interrupts him, “The sooner you’re usurped as champion, the better. Perhaps one of those promising young challengers we’ve had this year will be more willing to assist me with this very urgent matter. Maybe that charming younger brother of yours, hmm?”

Leon snarls. Lianna’s never heard him sound so guttural and angry. But, before more can be said, she’s around the corner, the click of her heeled ankle boots on the tiles announcing her, and pressing the paper bag of pastries into Leon’s hands, greeting him with a blissfully oblivious little smile and a peck on the cheek. “There you are, champ! I’ve been looking for you!”

“Oh, Lee, what are you doing here?” Leon asks, startled.

“Coming to help you get ready for today, of course!” Lianna says cheerily, already tugging him away from the scene. She glares back over her shoulder to see the chairman watching them go, eyes narrowed beneath the furrow of his brows and the swooping curl of his overgelled hair. Once they’re out of earshot, Lianna pushes him through the nearest room - it appears to be a storage room of sorts, stacked ceiling-to-floor with cardboard boxes and plastic totes overspilling with banners and flags and streamers - and clicks the door closed behind them.

“Lianna,” Leon says softly but urgently.

“I know, I heard,” Lianna replies, Stickybun grumbling at the closed door irritably as if she, too, senses something deeply amiss with Chairman Rose.

“I’m worried, Lee,” he confesses, stealing glances at the door with every few breaths, “He’s completely lost it. You should’ve heard him at our meeting yesterday. I’ve told him to wait until after the championship cup and we can discuss it further, but he won’t drop it. It’s like he thinks all of Galar is going to lose power  _ today _ , but everything’s been fine for the past few days, region wide. I think he can spare me until Monday, but he won’t. And now he’s talking about waking up  _ Eternatus _ to -”

“What’s Eternatus?” Lianna prompts.

“A Pokemon,” Leon elaborates, gesturing wildly with his hands in his panic, “A legendary Pokemon. It supposedly controls all of the Dynamax energy in Galar, and Rose wants to harness its power as a form of energy that can be converted into electricity.” He swallows hard, breathes unsteadily, and looks at her with eyes gone wide with panic. “It’s the Pokemon from the story. The one who caused the Darkest Day. Everyone in Galar could be killed if he goes through with this!”

Lianna looks back at the door herself now. “Yeesh, he’s really gone off his rocker now, hasn’t he? Alright, Leon, this is above both of us now. Rose is potentially threatening the entire region, we need to talk to someone above his head. The police or -”

“No one’s going to listen to us, Lee,” Leon says, voice small, “There  _ isn’t  _ someone above Rose. He’s the highest form of government Galar has. I...I don’t know what to do!” His voice cracks, his eyes welling up in despair, his hands falling onto her shoulders to grip them helplessly. “I don’t know what to do...everyone’s looking to me for help and I just...don’t know what to do…”

Hot tears fall off his chin and soak into the fabric of her shirt. Lianna frowns, slowly seeping his tears away with her fingertips. “Leon…,” she says softly, pulling him into the tightest, warmest hug she can manage, letting him bury his face in the chest of her shirt and tremble with the force of his tears, “Leon, none of this is your responsibility. You’re only one person. C’mon, champ...we’re gonna figure this out.”

“I...I don’t know if I can,” Leon sobs into her shoulder, “I don’t know if I can do it, Lee. I’m so...I’m so tired…”

Lianna doesn’t know what to do either, so she resigns herself to standing there and hugging him as tightly as she can while he cries, until he’s hiccuping the last of his tears away into the dampened shoulder of her shirt. “I’m sorry,” he whispers against her skin, “I’m sorry, I’m supposed to be strong, I’m supposed to be -”

“You’re not supposed to be anything except my Leon,” she silences him, squeezing him tighter, pressing her face into his hair, his snapback dangling from one of her hands where it rests behind his back, “You don’t have to be strong. You don’t have to be a hero. You don’t have to always know what to do. You just have to be you, and that will be enough for the people of Galar. We’re gonna figure this out, champ. And we’re gonna do it together.”

“But, you’re going back to Alola on Tuesday…,” he whimpers into her shoulder.

“No,” Lianna decides in that instant, “Not until we figure this out. Not until we have that maniac of a chairman brought to justice for threatening you. For  _ everything  _ he’s done to you, Leon. I’m going to see to it. I promise you that.”

Leon’s arms hold her a little tighter. She smiles, tipping his head back with one hand to gently dry his tears with her other. “C’mon, champ. We’ll get through this, one day at a time, starting with today. Now, I think you have a speech to give in…” She checks the watch on her Dynamax band. “About forty minutes. Let’s go get your pretty face cleaned up, and then you can stuff some of those pastries I brought you in your face before you have to get up and speak. Does that sound okay?”

He nods sheepishly. “That sounds okay.”

Lianna leans back to look at him, smiling softly. Her brown eyes are so steady, so sure, behind her glasses lenses, because if it’s in the name of the man she loves, she’s certain she can do absolutely anything. He doesn’t smile back until Stickybun cranes forward on her shoulder to nuzzle her slimy little face against his cheek, cooing sweetly, and then he can’t help but hiccup with a laugh before Lianna herds him out of the room and down the hall to the nearest locker room to clean him up.

“Lianna?” Leon prompts while she’s dabbing away at his puffy red eyes with a wet paper towel, drying up the stickiness of dried tears and running snot.

“Hmm?”

He winds his arms around her waist, squeezing her close. “Thank you.”

She smiles. “For you, champ? Anything.”

* * *

Lianna sits with Rosa, the Galarian gym leaders, and other esteemed guests in their designated box seats to watch the tournament. Chairman Rose opens with a few words, then passes the mic to Leon, who provides a speech and asks the crowd if they’re ready to have a champion time, to which the audience responds with roaring applause while he strikes his signature Charizard pose. Lianna smiles, hugging Stickybun tighter to her chest. He’s silly and she loves him just as much as the crowd clearly does.

After Leon’s speech, it’s time for the first matchup of the day. It’s Aisling and Marnie, a close fight, but not nearly close enough to be surprising. Lianna isn’t at all startled to see Aisling emerge victories, although Piers is wailing unhappily somewhere behind her when Marnie is at last eliminated from the challenge. Raihan is still loudly consoling him when the next match begins. This is it: the battle that will determine who will face the gym leaders in the bracket tomorrow, and then the champion himself.

It’s Aisling and Hop.

Lianna is torn. Hop is Leon’s brother, and Leon has come to mean the world to her faster than she once thought possible. He’s a good trainer - a great trainer - and this is his dream, to succeed his older brother as champion. But, Lianna suspects that, deep down, Leon doesn’t want this for his brother, doesn’t want him to be dragged through the same growing pains that he was at his age. Aisling is Rosa’s sister, and Rosa is Lianna’s best friend of many years, who she feels a loyalty to as strongly as she does to her father. Rosa isn’t just her friend; she’s family, like a sister she never had, adopted into Rosa’s growing hoard of siblings. Aisling is an extension of that, and Lianna feels like maybe she should be rooting for her on Rosa’s account. But, in the end, they’re both good kids, good trainers, and good people, and she finds that she doesn’t mind who wins between them. Galar will be in good hands either way, assuming whoever it is can do the impossible and defeat Leon tomorrow.

In the end, it’s Aisling who emerges victorious, her Dynamaxed Cinderace roaring excitedly into the stadium while sprinklers activate to extinguish its dwindling flares, scattered across the now thoroughly scorched astroturf, while Hop’s Rillaboom lies defeated across from it. Rosa is whooping with cheers, bending precariously over the railing as she hoots and hollers, but Lianna is eerily quiet. She’ll never forget the look of complete and utter devastation on Hop’s face when Aisling is announced the victor. Even when a staff member emerges onto the field to heal their Pokemon, Aisling’s Cinderace shrinking back down to its normal size just in time for her to throw her arms around its neck and hug it tightly while it screeches in excitement, Hop just stands there, with his mouth hanging open in silent shock of the outcome.

Finally, Hop takes his healed Pokemon back from the staff member and vanishes off of the battlefield. Lianna’s heart aches for him. This was always the part she hated the most when she was champion, recognizing the devastation on Hop’s face as the same hopelessness many of her own challengers had walked away wearing on their faces after she crushed them underfoot with her Manectric. Crushing a young person’s hopes and dreams was never easy and, eventually, she decided that she wanted no part in it, even if it was an inevitable part of their lives as Pokemon trainers. Defeat eventually came for them all. Even her.

There’s a closing speech from Chairman Rose, with Aisling lingering on the podium beside him as he praises her for a battle well done and announces that she’ll return tomorrow to face the champion for his title. Then, with much deafening applause, the audience is slowly filing out of the arena, employees standing by to help guide people back towards the entrance in an orderly fashion. Lianna, Rosa, and the gym leaders wait until the worst of the crowds have left before taking their leave, many of them chattering excitedly about tomorrow’s matches. Aisling will have to compete with the gym leaders first if she wants to face Leon, but she’s already faced them once: it should be no trouble for a trainer like her, Lianna thinks as she follows Rosa down to the lobby, only to immediately be abandoned as Rosa runs to greet her sister, clapping her on the back and laughing loudly as she practically shouts her congratulations. Lianna smiles. She seldom sees Rosa so excited; she’s happy for her and for Aisling.

Unsurprisingly, Leon is nowhere to be found. Probably off in search of Hop, eager to console his brother over his loss. She’ll leave them be, intent on returning to the rental home until tomorrow when Rosa suddenly waves her over.

“What’s up?” Lianna prompts as she joins them, Stickybun interjecting a “Goomy, Goom?” from her arms.

“Hop and me are gonna meet Leon for dinner,” Aisling says, “You and Rosa should come!”

Lianna smiles. “Oh, are you sure? We don’t want to intrude. Right, Rosa?”

“Speak for yourself,” Rosa chuckles, grinning, “I’m her big sister, I can intrude all I want.”

Lianna laughs. “Guess that’s true. Sure, we’ll come. Great match today, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Aisling says, unexpectedly meekly, but brightens right back up when she sees Hop emerging from the employee stairwell behind them, “Hop! Over here!”

Lianna looks. Hop is approaching them, walking briskly, frowning a little but looking otherwise fine, and Leon isn’t with him. She quirks a brow. That’s odd.

“Leon said to meet him at the Rose of the Rhondelands Hotel, right?” Aisling prompts as Hop joins them.

Hop nods, but is unusually quiet. “Yeah.”

“Then, let’s go!” Aisling cheers excitedly, but her face softens when she looks at Hop again, giving him a good-natured nudge. He smiles weakly, then starts for the door, Aisling following along behind him. Rosa and Lianna exchange a glance before following.

The Rose of the Rhondelands Hotel isn’t new to Lianna and Rosa; it’s where the chairman had housed them their first two weeks here, before he settled on the rental home for them. It’s exactly the type of overly posh, rancidly luxurious establishment Lianna would expect Rose to own, even going so far as to name it after himself, the bastard. Lianna settles herself into one of the overly cushy, burgundy vinyl chairs in the reception area beside Rosa to wait for Leon, while Aisling and Hop wander over to the nearby window, talking quietly. Rosa gives them their space for now, letting them resolve the unanswered tension of the match’s results.

Fifteen minutes pass. Lianna plays on her phone, entertains Stickybun with cute videos, and chitchats casually with Rosa. Leon had said he would meet them at six - nearly twenty minutes ago now - but it wasn’t uncommon for him to be late, with how prone he is to getting lost in areas he’s been in a thousand times before. After ten minutes more, Lianna excuses herself to step outside and check the neighboring streets for Leon, but she strangely feels that he won’t be there before she even checks. She returns to the lobby empty-handed, exchanging puzzled glances with the others while Hop tries to call him. It goes directly to voicemail. Lianna texts him twice and receives no answer either time.

“Something’s wrong,” Lianna finally says, “I’m going to go look for him.”

Hop is already halfway to the hotel’s elaborate glass entryway. “I’m coming, too!”

“Yeah,” Rosa says as she rises, stretching with her arms above her head, “We’ll come, too.”

Hop tries to bolt out the door - and promptly comes face-to-chest with Piers, who towers over him even with his eternally hunched posture, the purple half-circles under his eyes suddenly seeming much more prominent with his skeletal face set in a thin frown. “There’s trouble,” he says without preamble, gently pushing Hop away as he steps inside, trailed closely by a weary-looking Marnie, “If you’re lookin’ fer the champion, I saw ‘im headin’ for Rose Tower with the chairman. Lookin’ real worried like. Got a bad feelin’ about it an’ thought I might find ya ‘ere.”

“We were supposed to meet Lee here for dinner half an hour ago!” Hop pipes up, “But he never showed!”

Piers glances over his shoulder. “Here comes more trouble now. Let’s go out an’ say hello, yeah?”

Lianna follows his stare and is surprised to see Oleana approaching the stairway leading into the Rose of the Rhondelands Hotel. She can almost hear her stiletto heels clicking against the cobblestone pathway from here, the woman’s elegantly solemn face set in an omnipresent frown dressed in strikingly red lipstick, the wings of her stark black eyeliner turned up like daggers. Before Rosa can reach for her arm, Lianna is already out the door and at the bottom of the stairs, stance wide as she waits for her. Rosa runs out the door after her with the others on her heels.

Oleana stops when she sees Lianna, shoulders squared in their white petticoat. “You.”

“Where’s Leon?” Lianna demands.

“The champion is in an extremely important meeting with Chairman Rose,” Oleana says, her voice unsettingly monotone, the way it always is, “You are not to disturb him.”

Stickybun immediately protests from Lianna’s shoulder, “Goom, Goom!”

Lianna’s brow tightens with her frown. “A meeting, hmm? Funny, I don’t remember there being any meeting on the agenda for today. Leon’s supposed to be home, getting ready for the championship cup tomorrow. What’s Rose doing dragging him out in the middle of the evening?”

“That is none of your concern,” Oleana says monotonously. 

“Like hell it is!” Lianna barks, encroaching on Oleana until the woman is leaning slightly backwards, arms crossed over her chest, looking thoroughly unimpressed as Lianna shouts in her face, “This is about the Darkest Day again, isn’t it? Rosa is trying to pressure Leon into endorsing his plan!”

Oleana’s jaw twitches imperceptibly. “You wouldn’t know anything about the chairman’s intentions, would you? But, it doesn’t matter. You have to have an employee key to access the monorail to Rose Tower. Looks like you’re out of luck, sweetheart.”

Oleana turns to leave without another word. Lianna surges after her, but Rosa stops her, grabbing her by the arm and wrangling her back. “Lianna, stop! Think about what you’re doing! You can’t get in a fight with a public official right here in the plaza!”

Lianna snarls. Rosa releases her, but she stays put, grumbling unhappily. Oleana pauses, then taunts her with a rare smirk cast over her shoulder before she walks away, heels clicking against cobblestone as she goes.

“There are plenty of Macro Cosmos employees around!” Hop suggests, “We could battle one of ‘em for their key! C’mon, we’ve gotta do something, Lee might need our help!”

“No need,” Lianna says, reaching into her satchel and rummaging around for a moment, before she pulls out a silvery key card dangling from a Pokemon League-branded lanyard. She twirls it around her finger, unable to keep herself from looking a little smug as she turns to the others with a cheeky grin. “Don’t look so surprised. I brought Leon lunch a few times, he just gave me a key so I could use the lifts and such without him.” Rather quickly, she adds, “And Leon would want me to tell you that mugging people is wrong, Hop.”

“Hey, it’s not mugging if you battle ‘em and win fair and square!” Hop protests, but Lianna is already bolting for the Rose Tower monorail station, with the others staggering after her in varying stages of understanding.

Before Lianna really realizes what’s happening, she’s skipping up the stairs two at a time to the high-rise monorail that runs above the city of Wyndon in a figure-eight, shoving a startled employee out of the way, and scanning her key card to gain access to the private station. Rosa, Hop, and Aisling pile into the automated car behind her, with Piers, Marnie, and a few members of Team Yell squeezing in before the automatic door slides closed and the car sets off for Rose Tower. It moves slower than Lianna wants, shouldering her way through the crowd of friends and acquaintances and Rosa loudly reprimanding her for something, so she’s ready to go at the door when it slides open with a musical  _ ding!  _ at the entry level of the tower.

“Lianna, wait!” Rosa calls after her as she bolts for the front doors, “Don’t do anything you’ll regret!”

“Wait for me!” Hop says, already jogging after Lianna and catching up to her easily, with Aisling a few steps behind him.

Inside, the reception area is crowded with Macro Cosmos and Pokemon League employees, including a security guard who shouts at Lianna as she tries to run by, three more staff members moving to quickly obstruct her path to the elevator. Lianna snarls, but softens when Piers claps a hand over her shoulder, leering cheekily. “Go,” he says, “I’ll handle this.”

And then, Piers - the unpredictable bastard - is whipping a microphone out of what must be either his inexcusably huge hair or his ass and thrumming up a rhythm with the tap of his foot before he starts to belt out a few notes. Marnie and the other members of Team Yell are circling warily around the reception area, Pokeballs at the ready for a fight. It’s enough of a diversion for Lianna to shoulder one of the staff members aside and make a B-line for the lift, Hop, Aisling, and Rosa close behind. She trusts Piers and Marnie can handle themselves on the bottom floor.

Predictably, the elevator stills two floors later, the sleek steel doors sliding ajar for two employees to skid inside, Pokeballs raised and ready for battle. Lianna and Rosa exchange a glance, reaching for their own Pokeballs, but Hop and Aisling already have it covered, freeing their respective Dubwool and Cinderace to face off with the two employees. Lianna punches a button and the elevator jolts upwards, jarred to life by the Pokemon battle ongoing in the tight octogonal walls of its confines. Those poor Macro Cosmos bastards didn’t stand a chance against two twelve-year-olds, Aisling quickly dispatching their steel-type Pokemon with her Cinderace while Hop’s Dubwool Double Kicks them for the knockout. Every few floors, the elevator stutters to a halt as more employees rush to stop them, but Aisling and Hop alternate with Rosa and Lianna in taking their poorly prepared teams down. Stickybun bounces off of Lianna’s shoulder and hits the tiled floor with a wet  _ plap!  _ before she launches a Dragon Breath at an unsuspecting Bronzong and knocks it out, while Rosa’s Incineroar flicks its one badly notched ear before loosing a Flamethrower on a Durant, sending the kids scurrying for the safety of the far walls.

The elevator doors slide aside two floors below their destination and Rosa bodily tosses the last two employees who tried to intercede them out into the hallway, sending a sharp glare at the next pair of staff waiting in tandem. They shrink back and the elevator door slides closed, the lift stuttering upwards again.

“Lee says there’s a power spot at the top of the tower!” Hop barks suddenly, “That means, if we get to the top, we can Dynamax our Pokemon!”

“Yeah!” Aisling cheers, punching the air, “Let’s take Chairman Rose down!”

“That won’t be necessary,” Lianna snarls as the lift stutters to a stop on the top floor, “Because if I ever see that bastard again, there’s not gonna be anything left of him to battle.”

The elevator door slides aside and Lianna is five steps down the hallway before anyone else is even out of the elevator, her heeled boots clicking sharply against the freshly polished tiles. The entire floor reeks of roses, which blossom in planters along every windowsill, spilling sunlight into the otherwise cheerless top floor of Rose Tower. But, her heels aren’t the only ones rapping loudly against the floorboards. Lianna hears Oleana before she sees her, the slender woman emerging from the shadows at the far end of the darkened hallway like a specter, white petticoat floating eerily around her with her movements.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Oleana says calmly, “I’m calling security.”

“Security’s busy,” Lianna spits, “and I ain’t leavin’ until I see Leon, so you might as well step aside and let me through, lady.”

“Miss Everton, was it? Didn’t your father ever teach you any manners? Maxie, I believe his name was,” Oleana leers, but she’s as stoic as ever, except for a certain fire in her normally dead eyes that wasn’t there before, “But, it’s no matter, because you won’t be going past this point. I don’t intend to let you disturb the chairman in his very important meeting with the champion.”

The way Oleana talks like she’s reading from an overly recited script is slightly unnerving, but Lianna’s glare doesn’t waver behind her glasses lenses. She stares the slender woman down, shoulders squared, with Stickybun glaring with equal but far more adorable fury from one of them. But, this must not be Lianna’s battle because, before she has time to draw her first Pokeball, Aisling is stepping past her, stance wide as she calls upon her Cinderace.

“Go,” Aisling says, sounding suddenly very mature for her age, “I’ll handle this. You all find Leon.”

“I’m staying,” Rosa protests, stepping up beside Aisling and reaching for a Pokeball of her own, “C’mon, sis! Let’s take her on together!”

Oleana is adamantly protesting that two against one  _ is not fair  _ when Lianna and Hop slide past her, Hop’s sneakers slipping and sliding and squeaking comically on the polished tiles as he hurries down the hall. Lianna’s been in and around Rose Tower just enough, usually bringing Leon trashy fast food for lunch or visiting him for a quick pep talk at work, to know that his office is somewhere on the top floor, and she suspects that that’s where he’s hosting this so-called meeting with Leon. The obvious answer is that his office is in the furthest reaches of the top floor, where the lights have strangely been mostly switched off, casting the entire place in eerie shadow as she clumsily navigates through the semi-darkness with Hop. Finally, she comes across a closed door - solid mahogany, intricately embellished with engravings of roses and wishing stars. This is it, Lianna knows.

She pauses only briefly to nod at Hop, who nods back, and then she’s throwing the door open with every ounce of weight she has, sending it careening into the wall behind it hard enough to damage the sheetrock. Hop bursts in after her, shouting wordlessly. 

Leon is seated in a wheeled chair across from Chairman Rose - except he isn’t seated, he’s restrained with ropes roughly binding his wrists together behind the chair’s back, face flushed and forehead veiled in a thin sheen of sweat, one vein sticking out from it prominently. The two were clearly just in a shouting match before Lianna and Hop burst in, Stickybun hurling herself off of Lianna’s shoulder to launch a Dragon Breath at Rose before Lianna even orders her to. The chairman stumbles backwards until his back hits the wall as the purple flare passes narrowly in front of him, Stickybun hitting his desk with a wet plop and a feisty growl.

“Lee!” Hop exclaims as he scrambles over to his brother, fingers already fumbling with the ropes that bind him.

“Hop!” Leon exhales in relief, “Thank Arceus.”

Lianna reaches to collect Stickybun into her arms and return her to her shoulder as she glares daggers at a clearly startled Chairman Rose. He slicks his hair back with both hands as he slowly regains his composure, the hair sticking tight to itself with too much gel. And then that bastard has the audacity to smile at her, like this is even possibly some sort of misunderstanding with Leon blatantly tied to a chair.

“Miss Everton,” Rose says casually.

She cuts him off. “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. How  _ dare  _ you.”

“Miss Everton, please, he wouldn’t listen to -”

“I don’t care,” Lianna says bluntly, “I’ll be in touch with the proper authorities after the champion cup tomorrow. That even gives you the chance to skip town before they can find you, hmm?”

“Why, I haven’t done anything wrong!” Rose remarks, and Lianna notices for the first time the slightly glassy look to his eyes, the strings strung too tight in his head and slowly beginning to come undone. It’s an almost deranged look, and a nicer person might have tried to help him, but Lianna, like her father, is not known for being especially forgiving, her brows drawing together tightly in a snarling glower, teeth bared at him like an animal. Leon looks at her in shock, seeing in her the same thing he sees in his beloved Charizard when it lowers its head, bares its teeth, and fixes the opponent with a blistering glare right before it lets loose a Flamethrower. If he squints, he swears he can almost see smoke billowing from the corners of her lips. She’s  _ furious _ .

“Do not threaten me or my parents or my partner again,” Lianna says, turning to jerk the last knot out of the ropes that were keeping Leon bound, freeing him, “or you’ll live to regret it, Chairman Rose.”

Her attention flickers to Leon, who is flexing his wrists in front of him and wincing at the soreness, the skin chewed raw with red burns. He stumbles to his feet, still slightly shocked, and then Lianna’s arms are around him and she’s squeezing him as if she never wants to let him go again. Their foreheads meet and Leon manages a smile, nuzzling his face against hers briefly before she’s grabbing his hand and dragging him towards the door, stealing a final glare at the chairman over her shoulder. “You would do well to remember what I said, Chairman,” she snarls, and then she’s escorting Leon and Hop back towards the elevator with Stickybun dangling precariously off of her shoulder.

Aisling and Rosa are waiting for them at the lift. Oleana is nowhere to be found, but based on the scorch marks on the tiles, she lost to them. Of course she did; she could have been a trainer well-versed in every sense of the word and still wouldn’t have stood a chance against them. Aisling looks between Hop and Leon warily while Rosa glances questioningly at Lianna, but the redhead won’t meet her eye, silently fuming as she holds Leon’s hand tightly in hers and quietly wondering if she can ever safely let him out of her sight again with the chairman and his asinine doom’s day plan looming over him like a stormcloud. 

Finally, as the elevator is gliding smoothly back towards the bottom floor, Rosa asks, “What happened?”

Leon tells her, “The chairman said he wanted to have a word with me after the matches today. I agreed to come to the tower with him for an impromptu meeting, he said it was an emergency. I wanted to find you first, Hop, and tell you what a great job you did today! But Rose dragged me away before I could even look for you and, when we got here, there was no meeting, just his empty office. And then he had his Copperajah hold me down while he tied me to that chair and went off about his Darkest Day plans again!” He presses his fingers to his temples. “It’s been this same damn thing for weeks now. Darkest Day this, Eternatus that, he won’t listen to me! He’s going to destroy all of Galar if we don’t do something!”

Rosa frowns. “Do you know if he actually has the capability to awaken Eternatus?”

“As far as I know,” Leon sighs wearily, “Yes, he does. He’s been collecting wishing stars for months now for that very purpose.”

“Wishing stars, like the ones in our Dynamax bands?” Hop prompts, gesturing to the silver band on his own wrist.

“Bede said he was hunting wishing stars, when he destroyed that mural in Stow-on-Side,” Aisling comments, frowning severely, “He said he needed them for the chairman.”

“Right before the chairman disqualified him from the gym challenge,” Leon adds, still massaging his temples. Lianna squeezes his hand gently, trying to comfort him - and probably failing, because he had just been forcibly tied to a chair, for fuck’s sake.

“Good to know that, on top of everything else, Rose is manipulating kids into doing his dirty work for him,” Rosa growls with a jerk of her head. The elevator chimes and the door slides aside. None of the Macro Cosmos employees in the lobby try to stop them as they make their way back towards the monorail, although none of them try to hide their stares, either. Marnie, Piers, and the scattered Team Yell members who had been with them are outside, waiting for them eagerly by the monorail car. Leon retells his tale to them as the growing group squeezes into the car and takes it back to Wyndon, where they collectively agree that something has to be done about Rose - but not until after the champion cup. It’s the biggest event of the year, they can’t call it off so easily, and Rose isn’t a big enough idiot to attempt anything with that many eyes on him all at once - or so they hope.

Leon is thoroughly shaken when Lianna returns him to his flat. Hop is staying with them tonight, while Rosa and Aisling stay together at (regrettably) the Rose of the Rhondelands Hotel. Hop hastily makes them curry for dinner, while Lianna sits on the sofa with Leon cradled in her arms and whispers the best reassurances she can think of in his ear while he practically trembles in her arms. It isn’t that he’s afraid, at least not completely; he’s so stressed that he can barely hold himself together, even in the company of the people he loves the most, thinly veiling tears as he presses his face into Lianna’s chest and whimpers helplessly at the hand he’s been dealt. Rose’s hand, picking him up when he was a promising young trainer, encouraging him when he became champion, manipulating him through his teenage years and into his early adulthood, until Rose controlled more of Leon than even Leon himself. He hates it. He hates this. He hates Rose.

“It’s okay to cry,” Lianna whispers above him, fingers threading gently through his hair now that she’s taken his snapback off and set it aside. He doesn’t know what else to do, so he does, tears trickling along his cheeks to drip off of his chin and onto the chest of her shirt, but she doesn’t mind at all, squeezing him tighter as he finally succumbs to the sobs. His arms hold her tightly around her midsection as he cries, clinging to her for warmth, for comfort, for anything other than the oppressive feeling of helplessness welling up inside him.

“I don’t know what to do,” Leon cries, “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know…”

Lianna’s heart breaks for him. She doesn’t know what to do either, but she isn’t about to admit to that right now, when Leon needs her. “I know,” she whispers, “We’re gonna figure this out, champ. Just close your eyes. Rest. You need it. You’ve got a big match tomorrow.”

“I’m not gonna win,” Leon says.

“Of course you will, champ,” Lianna shushes him, kissing his forehead softly, “You always do.”

Leon just wordlessly sobs into her chest until he eventually cries himself dry. She dries his tears on her sleeve, while Stickybun coos at them sadly from the floor, her antennae drooping visibly in concern. When he can’t cry anymore, Hop tries to push a plate of now room-temperature curry to him, but Leon barely eats before he dismisses himself to shower and lay down. He spares Hop hardly a glance as he tells them that there are spare blankets and an extra pillow in the hallway closet before he slips away, which isn’t like him at all.

Hop looks at Lianna downtroddenly. “What are we going to do, Lianna?”

Lianna stares at the place where Leon had been standing long after he’s disappeared into his joint bedroom and bathroom. She can hear the shower running down the hall. “Easy,” she says, with certainty and confidence that she doesn’t quite feel, but is going to find in herself between now and then, she swears it, “We’re going to stop the chairman.”


	20. Chapter 20

Sunday morning arrives in eerie silence. Lianna is awake before the sun rises, Stickybun tucked underneath her chin and snoring softly. She blinks the sleep from her eyes and frowns softly when the first thing she sees is Leon sitting quietly on the edge of his bed, already dressed in his spandex athletic wear, and staring silently at the gentle snowfall outside his window.

Lianna moves Stickybun and quietly sits up, maneuvering over to kneel behind Leon, hugging his shoulders softly while she rests her chin atop his head. He hasn’t put his snapback on yet, his shaggy purple hair warm as it tickles underneath her chin. “Hey, champ,” she says softly, barely above a whisper.

“Hey, Lee,” Leon answers quietly, lifting a hand in search of her fingertips. She takes his hand, giving him a gentle squeeze.

“You excited?” she asks.

“As excited as I can be,” he says, sighing softly as he tilts his head back to look at her. The sight of her - slightly bed-wraggled, hair improperly parted and tousled with sleep, eyes still slightly hazy and looking at him like he’s the only other person in the world - is enough to make him smile, if only for a moment. But, it’s short-lived. “I think I would be more excited if I hadn’t just been tied to a chair and threatened.”

“I don’t blame you,” Lianna agrees, reluctantly parting from him to get herself dressed. She had shoved her favorite pink flannel, a white crop top, and a pair of denim shorts with her Skitty stockings into her overnight bag for today, thinking to herself how Maxie would scold her for not folding them neatly as she untangles them from each other to dress. Leon walks into the bathroom with a faint knock on the door frame while she’s brushing her hair, arranging it into some semblance of style before she buries it underneath her snapback anyways. His arms twine around her waist from behind while she’s applying eyeliner, his chin resting upon her shoulder as he hums softly in contemplation.

“Watcha thinkin’ about, prince?” she asks.

“The match today,” Leon says, “and how I keep feeling like something bad is about to happen.”

She finishes her eyeliner, snaps the cap back on the pen, and turns to face him, cupping his face gently in both hands as she peers up at him sympathetically. “It’s because of Rose, isn’t it? I don’t blame you. I would be scared, too, if someone I trusted tied me to a chair and threatened me with a Copperajah yesterday. What did he even want from you?”

“He wanted me to announce  _ our  _ plan to fix the energy crisis at the champion cup today,” Leon elaborates with a grimace, “Implying that I in any way helped him come up with his crackjob idea to use Dynamax to power the region. I told him no, and that’s when he tied me up. He said I ‘wouldn’t listen to reason.’”

“He’s the one who won’t listen to reason,” Lianna retorts, brows furrowed, “We’ll handle it tomorrow, I’m sure the Galarian police would love to hear about how the chairman threatened and practically assaulted the champion. Right now, you just focus on winning your match, champ.”

“I’m not going to win,” Leon sighs.

“Leon,” she says, quietening him with a gentle finger placed lightly upon his lips, “When have you ever not won? This is no different. Just do your best, champ. You’ll have me and Hop and Rosa and Sticky and all your adoring fans cheering for you from the stands. And even if you don’t win...I’m so, so proud of you, Leon. You’re so strong. You’re so brave. And I love you.”

He manages a smile, pecking her lips softly. “I should make us some breakfast. You finish getting ready.”

Reluctantly, Lianna lets him leave her embrace, finishing up her makeup quickly before she ventures back into the bedroom to collect Stickybun, who has practically disintegrated into a comfortable puddle of slime in her nest of blankets. She grumbles irritably when Lianna removes her, tucking her underneath one arm. She starts for the kitchen, then pauses, remembering her Dynamax band on the nightstand. She doesn’t think twice before reaching for it, strapping it onto her dainty wrist neatly before she ventures off to join Leon and Hop for bacon and scrambled eggs at the kitchen table.

She has the sinking feeling in her depths that she’s going to need it.

* * *

Leon needs to be at the stadium an hour before the tournament starts. A reporter wants to have a word with him before the matches, and a makeup artist wants to touch up his hair and check him for any sign of blemishes or imperfections before he’s broadcasted to the entire region of Galar and beyond. Even Lianna, who had been thoroughly uneducated about Galarian culture when she arrived here a month and a half ago, knew that Galar’s champion cup was a heavily televised event, viewed on live TV across the globe.

Since Leon is preoccupied, Lianna retreats to her box seats with Rosa and Hop. Aisling won’t be joining them, since she’s waiting in the wings for her matches with the region’s gym leaders elsewhere in the stadium. Wyndon stadium has been beautifully decorated for the event, the reception area strewn with banners, balloons, and colorful decor, while flowers have been scattered around the perimeter of the battlefield just below the bleachers, which are already growing crowded with overeager fans and onlookers. When the matches are due to start in a little under forty minutes, Lianna’s phone pings. She checks it, finding a message from Leon.

> _ Can you come to the gym leader lounge, please? _
> 
> _ Be there in a sec. _

“I’ll be right back,” Lianna says, gently placing Stickybun in Rosa’s lap as she stands, “I’m being paged.”

“Okie dokie,” Rosa agrees nonchalantly, petting Sticky.

Lianna has to stop and check the signage a few times, but eventually remembers the way to the gym leader lounge, which is bustling with activity as the gym leaders dart in and out in eager anticipation of their upcoming matches. Leon is waiting for her outside, straightening his cape’s faux fur-lined collar in the reflection of one of the metallic lockers that lines the hall.

“Hey, Lee,” he says when he spots her, arms immediately around her, “Just wanted to see you one more time before the matches start.”

“Why’s that, hmm?” Lianna prompts, adjusting his cape’s collar a bit more, then straightening up his snapback. The makeup team has applied a touch of concealer to a bit of discoloration on his left cheek and straightened his hair. It makes her frown; she can’t imagine Leon more beautiful than he already is, their striving for perfection is sorely misguided. He’s perfect exactly as he is.

“Because I need a good luck kiss, of course!” Leon teases, pressing his forehead to hers with a smile. He seems a bit better than he was this morning, brighter and cheerier and more willing to smile as the excitement of his quickly approaching championship match warms him to his core. It makes her smile, too. He should be bustling with excitement and energy today, not down on himself and the state of Galar because of Chairman Rose. He can worry about all those things tomorrow; today is about him and his one true love: Pokemon battling.

Lianna is entirely too happy to oblige him, pressing her lips to his sweetly for a few seconds before she pulls away, not wanting to get lipstick on him before he appears on live TV. “Good luck. And remember, Leon: you’ll always be my champion.”

A camera flashes. Lianna blushes hotly, immediately expecting a reporter, when Raihan’s familiar roaring laugh reaches them, his Rotom phone hanging in the air around him as he approaches, one hand shoved in the pocket of his hoodie while the other claps Leon on the shoulder. “Sorry, couldn’t resist,” Raihan chuckles good-naturedly, “Thought you two might like to have a candid shot of how cute ya look.”

Raihan whistles and his Rotom phone whizzes over and turns towards them to show them the picture. It  _ is  _ a nice photo, something straight out of a magazine spread with all the filters Raihan had applied. “Send that to me,” Leon says cheerily, “I needed a new wallpaper.”

“Will do!” Raihan replies, grinning toothily, “You ready for our match today, mate? You better watch out, you know you’re going down!”

“And you know I don’t lose battles,” Leon jeers, grinning cheekily. Lianna smiles, there’s the confidence she knows him for, so unlike his uncertainty earlier that morning. “Speaking of which, we better get going. First match is about to start!”

“Right! See ya, Lianna!” Raihan cheers, disappearing into the gym leader’s lounge to await his turn at the pitch.

“You okay to see yourself back to your seat, babe?” Leon asks, returning his attention to Lianna, who nods.

“Of course,” she says, pecking his cheek quickly before she starts to walk away, “Good luck, champ. Love you.”

“Love you, too!” Leon calls after her as she ventures back down the hallway, struggling through the now rapidly gathering crowds in the reception area to return to her seat. Stickybun croons eagerly at her return, slithering back into her lap just as the announcer introduces Chairman Rose over the loudspeakers. That immediately sours her mood and she frowns pensively as his face appears on the towering TV screens positioned around the stadium to provide better views of the arena throughout the day’s festivities. His faux friendly smile and overgelled hair make the hair on the back of her neck prickle, and even eternally good-natured Sticky growls softly at the sight of him now.

But, Rose’s speech is fortunately brief, and then the announcer is announcing the tournament’s first matchup of the day, Milo and Nessa, while the final stragglers from the lobby make their way into the bleachers and sit down. A vendor wanders around the stands, selling popcorn and snacks. Lianna stops him and buys a Pokepuff for Sticky, holding it out for her to gently nibble on while Nessa swiftly and mercifully defeats Milo and his team of grass-types. Next up is Nessa and Aisling, which has Rosa jumping up in her seat and cheering loudly, much to the disdain of the people around them. Lianna can only chuckle.

No one is surprised when Aisling emerges victorious, despite the much stronger team Nessa uses now than she did in the gym challenge. One-by-one, the contestants fall: Nessa to Aisling, Kabu to Allister, Allister to Aisling, who is roaring through the ranks with the ferocity of a flame in a paper factory. Aisling is such an effortlessly skilled trainer that the matches are mostly uneventful, until it’s time for Piers to match up with Raihan. It’s the closest match-up of the day, with Piers determinedly holding his own even though he refuses to Dynamax his Pokemon. There’s no shortage of clever banter and blatant  _ eye-fucking  _ between the two as the match wears on, until only Raihan’s Duraludon and Piers’ Obstagoon remain, and the audience is absolutely wild with applause and excitement. Finally, Raihan bests him, the bleachers alive with cheers as the match comes to a close and the two gym leaders leave the pitch together, Raihan’s arm thrown over Piers’ shoulders casually.

Raihan returns for the next match. This is it - the final battle before whomever emerges victorious will face Leon himself. It’s Raihan versus Aisling, and Aisling wipes the battlefield with his Duraludon with such ease that it’s nearly embarrassing. Raihan takes it in stride, however, laughing and cheering as he congratulates Aisling on her victory, clapping her on the shoulder before he finally leaves the pitch for the last time today.

The announcer congratulates Aisling on her victory, too, and then announces Champion Leon as he emerges onto the battlefield while an employee arrives to heal Aisling’s Pokemon. Lianna straightens up in her seat, squaring her shoulders in anticipation of the final match.

The stadium is filled with the excited cheers of the crowd as Leon meets Aisling in the middle of the battlefield, offering her a hand that she eagerly shakes, her cheeky grin magnified on the big screens that surround the stadium. The excited blaze in Leon’s honey-amber eyes is visible on those same screens as the two trainers retreat to opposite ends of the stadium in preparation for their battle.

And then the entire stadium falls black.

First, a hushed murmur of confusion passes through the crowd. Then, there are rising cries of panic as the lights flicker overhead, sending a rain of glowing sparks down on the bleachers before they finally reignite.

When the blackness subsides, Chairman Rose is visible on the big screens. He’s beaming, as warmly and welcomingly as always, but something is wrong. There’s a wild look in his eyes, something slightly unhinged, something almost calculating but not quite. 

“Greetings, Galar!” Rose’s voice booms over the loudspeakers, as the lights flicker and the power surges and, outside the stadium’s windows and glass canopy, the world starts to glower neon red, “This is your chairman speaking! I’m pleased to announce that  _ I’ve done it, I’ve fixed the energy crisis!  _ Fear no more,  _ Eternatus  _ is here to save us all!”

Somewhere, there’s a screech so loud that it shakes the stadium. More sparks rain down from the ceiling, the glass that encloses the stadium roof creaking audibly as cracks start to spiderweb across its surface, which bleed with the eerie red light that has now ignited in the suddenly dark sky outside.

“W-What’s going on?” Hop whimpers from beside Lianna. Stickybun cowers into her chest, frightened.

“Rose,” Lianna snarls.

“He’s really gone and done it now!” Rosa growls irritably, casting an arm over Hop to shield him as more sparks drop off the lights above them, now swinging wildly in what feels like a great storm, filled with wind and bright red lightning and thunderous roars.

Lianna lifts an arm to shield herself from falling sparks and glass, the windows shattering with another ear-splitting roar. Stickybun screeches and hides her face in her chest. And, suddenly, she remembers Leon.

“Leon!” she shouts into the chaos, but he would never hear her over the swell of the wind that now fills the stadium through the shattered windows, nor the roars of what she can only assume is the beast called Eternatus. Lightning cracks outside and the entire stadium ignites in eerie red light for a hot second before darkness descends yet again. Around them, people are screaming, children are crying, Pokemon are yelping, and staff members are desperately waving cellphone flashlights in the darkness, trying to guide the panicked people away from the bleachers and into the relative safety of the lobby.

Lightning flashes again. Lianna looks desperately for Leon in the sudden flash, but the stadium is empty. Leon and Aisling are both gone, and it’s no question where.

“We need to go!” Rosa shouts over the chaos, an arm around Hop protectively. Lianna clutches Stickybun tighter.

“I need to find Leon!” Lianna shouts back in growing panic, “Where’s Rose? Where’s Eternatus?”

“I don’t know!” Rosa calls, scrambling for the flashlight on her phone to guide them through the darkness and towards the stairs, “Maybe the Tower?”

“No!” Hop pipes up, “I bet they’re at the energy plant!”

Lianna and Rosa exchange a look, then Rosa looks down at Hop through the eerie blackness, right as another flash of red lightning illuminates the stark fear on his child-like features. “Lead the way!” Rosa shouts, and Hop stars off at a run, nearly falling down the stairs before Rosa catches him under the arm, “Careful!”

The Pokemon League staff are working quickly to remove the frightened crowds from the stadium. Lianna fishes through her satchel for the all-access keycard that Leon gave her and brings them through an employee exit, circumventing the overstuffed lobby. Once they’re outside, it’s obvious that Hop was right: dark clouds flashing with neon red lightning fill the sky, which had been sunny and bright just that morning, most concentrated around the Wyndon energy plant, a stark steel structure jutting up from the skyline.

“There!” Hop says, pointing, already running that way, “Let’s go get Lee!”

Rosa and Lianna run after him, Stickybun huddled in the latter’s arms as the Dynamax energy sparks around her, agitating and confusing her until she cries out in apparent pain. Lianna squeezes her tighter, trying to shield her from the sparking red lightning that seems to fall all around them, igniting treetops in blazing red fires, sending Pokemon fleeing from the streets in wild terror. It’s chaos, thunderous roars nearly deafening them every few steps as the three make a run for the energy plant. But, with every step, it seems further and further away, Lianna’s heart pounding in the back of her throat with surging panic for Leon. He’s barreled head-first into a dangerous situation - one involving Chairman Rose and a very angry-sounding legendary Pokemon. She can make out the shape of it through the thick veil of clouds whenever the sky glows red with lightning, simultaneously skeletal and serpentine, great jaws splitting wide with furious roars that shake the sidewalks underneath her feet.

Hop is the first through the doors to the energy plant, Lianna following closely on his heels with Rosa beside her. Inside, the power is unsurprisingly out, cloaking the reception area in inky blackness, Hop’s shin immediately connecting with an end table while Lianna stumbles over a chair. Rosa - ever the one functional brain cell - reaches for her cellphone again, flicking its flashlight function on.

“There’s an elevator,” Hop says, approaching it.

“No good,” Rosa remarks, “Power’s out. Look for a stairwell.”

Lianna fishes her one Rotom phone out of her satchel and flicks its flashlight on, scanning the hallway for a stairwell. “Over here!” she calls when she finds one, throwing the door open to find a flight of stairs ascending to the higher floors and, beyond them, the rooftop, where Eternatus awaits. Hop skids past her, running blindly into the darkness, taking the concrete stairs two and three at a time.

“Hop, wait!” Rosa calls after him, following behind him as quickly as she can, but she’s past the age of scaling stairs two at a time and she inevitably loses him in the darkness. Lianna follows behind them, Stickybun crooning unhappily in her arms as she trembles with the immensity of the Dynamax power that circulates in the air around them, unrestrained and wild and utterly terrifying. She can hear Rosa’s footsteps ahead of her, the sounds of the wind softened in the close concrete corridors, but they’re quickly drowned out whenever Eternatus roars, ear-splittingly loud, making Stickybun screech in terror.

Up, up, up, the three climb, until the sounds of the wind are audible again, even through the thick concrete walls, and the stairs are trembling slightly underneath them, sending them all grappling for the stair rails. It feels like an eternity, Lianna’s ears filled with the roar of the wind and the frightened cries of her Pokemon and the pounding of her own blood as her mind races. Leon is up there. Her Leon. Her beautiful, brave, perfect Leon. And he’s in danger.

Adrenaline suddenly sets her alight and she glides past Hop on her way up the stairs, until they suddenly stop, culminating in a doorway that feels too low to open up into the rooftop. She jerks it open and, sure enough, on the other side, there’s only the inky blackness of another hallway. She shouts wordlessly into the darkness in frustration, Hop and Rosa emerging into the empty hall behind her.

“There must be another stairwell,” she finally growls.

“Fan out,” Rosa instructs them, scanning the area through her phone’s light, “Start looking.”

Outside, Eternatus roars and the hall trembles around them. A picture frame falls off the wall and glass shatters. Rosa’s flashlight catches the sight of cracks ebbing up the sheetrock of the far wall, splitting beneath the stress of whatever the hell is happening on the rooftop. Every few steps, pieces of the ceiling shower down on them in crumbling bits of plaster and dust, making them cough.

A light flickering dimly at the end of the hall catches Lianna’s eye. She clears her throat and Rosa looks at her, shining her flashlight towards her to catch her jerking her chin in the direction of the empty doorway, the door now hanging off its hinges on one side of the frame. Hop sees it, too, and darts in that direction without a second thought. Rosa calls after him, but it’s too late, he’s already skidding to a halt in the vaguely illuminated room and coming face-to-face with Chairman Rose himself.

Lianna and Rosa are right behind him, sneering distastefully at the mere sight of the man responsible for all of this. The chairman is seated at his desk, his features illuminated in flashes of red light from the nearby array of controls and dials embedded in some sort of panel to his left, looking eerily calm in spite of the chaos unfolding just above them.

“Ah,” Rose says, without so much as a glance in their direction, completely fixated on the diagrams and images sprawling on the many papers spread out in front of him, “I was beginning to wonder when you would all show up. I’m afraid you’re too late. Eternatus is already awake, and it will  _ fix  _ the energy crisis. It will  _ save us all _ .”

“Is  _ this  _ what you call fixing?” Hop spits at him, with a surprising amount of venom for an optimistic twelve-year-old.

“You’ll see,” Rose chuckles, his voice tilting unsteadily, “You’ll see! You’ll all see! I was right! I  _ saved  _ Galar! Eternatus is here, our savior! And I don’t intend to let any of  _ you  _ stop me now! Your sweet, sweet champion has already tried! Why don’t you go up on the roof and see where  _ that  _ got him?”

Lianna’s heart clenches so hard in her chest that, for a hot second, she feels like she’s going to vomit - before she swallows hard and steps forward. “How dare you.”

Chairman Rose looks at her now, and she sees faint lines of red flickering brightly in his irises, paired with a sideways open-mouthed smirk that she can only describe as delirious. “Miss Everton! How are you? Better than your precious little boy toy, I hope. Eternatus didn’t leave much of him, but feel free to see yourself up to the roof and join him, since you love him so much!”

Lianna’s eyes narrow in a flash of red light. “I don’t believe you.”

“Go and see for yourself, then! Your champion is dead and you have only yourself to blame! If  _ you  _ had convinced him the way I asked, this never would have happened! It didn’t have to be like this, Lianna, if you had just  _ listened _ ! If  _ Leon  _ had just  _ listened to me! _ I was right!”

Rosa steps back, bringing an arm around Hop’s shoulders. The boy is trembling with tears, jaw clenched, lower lip pooched out, shocked silent with the chairman’s words. “He’s off his rocker…”

“This was  _ never  _ Leon’s responsibility! It was yours! You have only  _ yourself  _ to blame, you miserable bastard!” Lianna shouts, but the chairman is unfazed, reaching calmly for a Pokeball that rests alongside the keyboard on his desktop.

“You are a nuisance, Miss Everton, and you have been ever since you came to Galar,” Rose says as he unsteadily rises from his chair, Pokeball in hand, “But, don’t worry, dear. You’ll soon join your beloved champion among the stars. I’ll see to it that you - that  _ all  _ of you - are no more. You know too much. Yes, that’s it. Such heroic deaths you’ll all have, deaths at the hands of my Eternatus, who you so foolishly tried to stop. I’ll make sure the media paints it all as...just a terrible, terrible accident. Tragic, isn’t it? All these young lives -”

“Enough,” Lianna silences him, her voice cutting sharply through even the chaos that echoes off the walls from the roof just above them, “Rosa, Hop, find Leon and Aisling. I’ll handle this.”

“Lee,” Rosa says behind her, “Are you sure?”

“I can take him,” Lianna reassures her, with a wayward glance over her shoulder, forcing herself to smile as the red lights all around them flicker off her glasses, “I’m a champion, too, remember?”

Rosa nods, smiling back, but only weakly. “Good luck, Lee.”

“Go,” Lianna says, “Stop Eternatus.”

The chairman politely watches their exchange, then laughs as Rosa drags Hop away from the scene to find a staircase to the rooftop. “You’ve just sent them to their deaths, Miss Everton. There will be nothing left of them when Eternatus is done - and nothing left of you, either, I’m afraid. You really are cruel, sending them out there like that. Just like your father, hmm?”

“My father is not cruel and my friends aren’t weak,” Lianna spits, “Enough talk, Rose. Nothing you say makes any sense, anyways. Shut up and battle me.”

Rose nods, smirking lopsidedly, his smile full of too-white teeth. “Very well.”

Lianna looses her first Pokeball. Poseidon emerges from it with a cry, the Vaporeon instantly confused by its surroundings, but ready for battle. Rose releases an Escavalier, its silvery armor tainted red with the room’s eerie flickering lights.

“Swords Dance,” Rose commands, with a tone that suggests he’s already bored of this.

“Aqua Ring!” Lianna counters, and Poseidon’s slender blue body ignites in cyan light that contrasts sharply with the otherwise red glower of the room, launching a surge of water from his mouth at his opponent while he surrounds himself with a peaceful healing aura while Escavalier clangs its sword-like forearms together, powering up.

Rose commands Escavalier to use Megahorn, while Poseidon rears back and blasts off a Hydro Pump. Megahorn misses - it’s good luck - and a Muddy Water from Poseidon finishes it with a critical hit. Poseidon gracefully lands on all fours amid a sea of murky water that now covers the laboratory floor, while Rose recalls his fainted Pokemon and sends out a Ferrothorn. It’s a grass-type; bad news.

It’s Chairman Rose’s turn to get lucky, a Power Whip from Ferrothorn nearly one-shotting Poseidon, who staggers to his feet, regains a scarce amount of energy from his lingering Aqua Ring, and fires off an Aurora Beam. It’s enough to hurt, but not enough to spare him from Ferrothorn’s second Power Whip, his legs crumpling underneath him as the attack ends his valiant battle and Lianna is forced to return him. She fishes through her satchel for her next Pokemon, and she’s promptly reminded that she’s at half capacity. All she has is Kaizen and Popsicle, an unevolved larvae that she can’t possibly send into battle against Rose’s Pokemon.

She’s suddenly feeling very unsure of herself as she sends Kaizen into battle, the Manectric surging with electricity as she lands on all fours in the muddy water left behind by Poseidon with a wicked snarl. “Charge,” Lianna commands, sounding strangely calm even to herself, “Then Thunder!”

A roar from the rooftop shakes the lab, eerie red lights flickering and glass shattering as test tubes and equipment clatter to the water-covered floor and smash to pieces. Cracks ebb up the back wall behind Rose, the room’s one window shattering into splinters that Lianna has to lift an arm to shield herself against. Still, their battle rages on, Kaizen decimating Ferrothorn with a single Thunder despite her type disadvantage. Rose sends out a Perrserker - Lianna has never seen one before and might have been fascinated if not for the circumstances at hand - that retaliates with an Iron Head before Kaizen can electrocute it with a Wild Charge. The move sends her reeling back in recoil, sparking faintly, right as the gale-force winds outside tear the empty window frame right out of the wall, bringing shreds of concrete and sheetrock with it.

“Again!” Lianna shouts over the roar of the wind, and Kaizen finishes the Perrserker with a second Wild Charge while it slashes at her flank with its steely claws, sending her away with a yelp. Rose’s next Pokemon is a Klinklang, which retaliates with an Assurance, spinning wildly against Kaizen, pressing the notches of its gears directly into the seeping wounds that Perrserker left behind. Yelping, Kaizen scampers away from it and fires off a Thunder, which hits its target and ends the Klinklang mercifully quickly. Kaizen is well-trained, battles beautifully, and as strong as Pokemon come - but the battle is still far from over.

Eternatus screeches above them. The entire room trembles in its wake, and then the wind is clawing viciously at the gouges it opened up in the laboratory walls, like a live beast seeking to tear into something’s insides. There’s a deafening sound as the wind tears most of the back wall off of the building, sending it spiraling upwards into the hurricane of black clouds that swirls around the energy plant’s apex, scattering debris. Lianna shouts wordlessly as she lifts an arm to shield herself from falling ceiling, Stickybun squealing in fright on her shoulder as she tucks herself right up underneath Lianna’s chin. Somewhere, Kaizen yelps, running between her trainer’s legs as the room is torn apart around them.

But, Chairman Rose seems altogether unfazed, brushing debris off of his suit like it’s nothing more than a bit of dust stirred up in a breeze. Behind them, the wall has been ripped away by the galing winds to reveal...a helipad? But, it’s surging neon red and screeching with a mechanical hiss, light emanating from it in a nearly bright white circle. No, it isn’t a helipad. It’s a powerspot, with the energy from the earth below concentrated and channeled into what must be some sort of circular generator. That explains why the lights in the lab had remained on when the rest of the building had lost power.

Rose steps backwards as he draws his final Pokeball. “You would be wise to just give up now, Lianna.”

Lianna’s eyes narrow, even as she has to lift an arm to shield herself from the shards of sheetrock spiraling around them in the wind. “Never,” she snarls.

Rose frees his Copperajah, the Pokemon trumpeting threateningly, its cry growing deafening as the chairman reaches for the Dynamax band on his wrist and it starts to grow to monumental size, its trunk thickening into a veritable wall of armored flesh. “Copperajah! Finish this nuisance with a High Horsepower!”

“Kaizen!” Lianna yelps, “Wild Charge!”

Kaizen’s entire form glowers bright white with electricity as she calls upon every ounce of lightning that lives within her, then she fires across the uncustomary battlefield at the speed of light, colliding with the massive Copperajah with a vicious cry. But, it isn’t enough, and the High Horsepower that shakes the building around them, sending more debris flying, the monitor on Rose’s desk splitting cleanly in half, spells her doom. Lianna cries out wordlessly as Kaizen hits the cracked concrete floor, scrambling to reach her in the shower of ceiling tiles that follows. She whispers her beloved Pokemon’s name, pulling her into her arms before she finally returns her to her Pokeball.

Lianna is out of choices. Poseidon and Kaizen have fainted, and the rest of her team is back home in Alola with her parents, forbidden to cross into Galar. Popsicle is a  _ baby _ , wholly unfit for battle even with his recent growth. Only one option remains.

“Sticky,” Lianna says, and the adorable slime ball pounces off of her shoulder and hits the wet floor with an almost comical splat, crying out with a, “Goomy, Goom!”

Chairman Rose laughs. “You’re sending your  _ Goomy  _ out against my Copperajah? Miss Everton, I knew you had to be  _ quite  _ stupid, falling for a man like Leon, but now I can see that you’re nothing but an idiot, just like him!”

The Dynamax band on Lianna’s wrist vibrates and trembles with the energy that crackles all around them. Lianna looks at it and sees that it’s glowering red against the fair skin of her wrist. This is all so new to her, something she’s never had the chance to experiment with, but she sees no other choice.

She holds an arm up and claps a hand over the Dynamax band. Something in it clicks and, with a howl, Stickybun is suddenly growing...and growing and growing.

Lianna almost laughs as the deepest, loudest exclamation of “Goomy, Goom!” she’s ever heard shakes the remains of the lab, audible even over the deafening roar of the wind and the trembling cries of Eternatus overhead. Stickybun’s beady black eyes roll in all directions in confusion, and then her suddenly massive body trembles with the force of a Dragon Breath that collides with Copperajah hard enough to make even it stumble backwards.

“Let’s end this quickly,” Chairman Rose says to his Pokemon, “Use Iron Head. Put it out of its misery.”

“Stickybun!” Lianna shouts, cupping her hands around her mouth in order to be heard, “Use Muddy Water!”

Stickybun cries out, the ordinarily tiny, cute sound suddenly deafening at her current scale, as the Iron Head connects with her slimy midsection, before her nearly elastic body ricochets the Copperajah off of her comically. She recovers quickly, shaking herself from side-to-side, before her gaping move stretches wide and sends forth a tidal wave of murky water that washes over the Copperajah with such force that Lianna is momentarily worried that it’s going to go careening off the other end of the rooftop, to fall to its death stories below. But, no such thing happens, and the Pokemon is already reeling back to retaliate with another Iron Head when Lianna shouts out her next order, “Sticky, do you love me? Am I your best friend?”

“Goomy, Goom!” Stickybun answers empathetically, and the skeletal remains of the lab tremble in her wake.

“Use Return!” Lianna cries.

That poor Copperajah never stood a chance.

The Pokemon recoils from the massive force that Stickybun hits it with, then crumbles to its knees with a trumpeting cry, shriveling back to its normal size as Rose returns it to its Pokeball. Lianna starts to click the button on her Dynamax band that will return Stickybun to her normal size, too - as neat as it is, she can’t imagine the trouble that would come with a ball of slime that size wandering around freely, especially one prone to tantrums when breakfast is three minutes late - but thinks better of it as she steps forward to address Rose.

“You’ve lost,” Lianna tells him, frowning starkly.

Rose hesitates before speaking, “It doesn’t matter. Eternatus is already here. I’ve already  _ won _ .”

“What did you win?” Lianna demands to know, “What could you - what could  _ anyone  _ \- possibly gain from this? This isn’t the answer, Rose. It never was. You of all people should know that. Look around. Is this what you wanted for your region? For your home?”

Rose only laughs, and there’s that wild look in his eyes again, that delirious smirk. “It doesn’t matter now! Nothing matters now! We’re all doomed!”

Lianna steps back, tapping the screen on her Dynamax band. Stickybun shrinks back to her normal size, looking completely and utterly bewildered where she sits in the middle of the debris-covered, waterlogged floor, and Lianna steps forward to collect her, placing her back on her shoulder. She has better things to do now than deal with Rose. “Then I’ll leave you to your fate, Chairman,” she says, barely audible over the howl of the wind, as she turns to leave, pausing only to glare back at him over her shoulder, “It’s what you  _ deserve _ , you miserable bastard."

The stairwell isn’t hard to find, now that most of the energy plant’s upper walls have been stripped away, eerie red light streaming in through the walls as the entire building trembles precariously on its stripped-clean steel skeleton. Lianna follows them up to the rooftop, but before she crosses that final boundary into what she can only assume will be a brutal battle with Eternatus - and possibly the scene of her lover’s death, her best friend’s death, and more - she stops and holds Stickybun out in front of her, smiling weakly.

“I have to hand it to you, Sticky,” Lianna says, “That was pretty badass. You’ve still got it, kid. I always knew you did.”

“Goom!” Stickybun agrees.

Lianna frowns. “But, where we’re going now, it’s gonna be something else altogether. I don’t know exactly what’s going on up there...but I know that I don’t want to put you at risk like that, Sticky. I need you to go into your Pokeball now. You’ll be safe there.”

“Goomy!” Stickybun protests, scowling bitterly as Lianna reaches for her Pokeball.

“I’m sorry, but if I don’t come out of this...if Leon and Rosa and Hop and Aisling don’t come out of this...I need to know that at least you’re safe, okay?” Lianna says, pressing the Pokeball towards Sticky, who whimpers pitifully, “It’s okay, Sticky. I love you, kid.”

She presses a kiss to the Goomy’s slimy little head, then returns her to her Pokeball. Stickybun is protesting the entire way into her ball, leaving Lianna suddenly very alone in the crumbling concrete stairwell that is suddenly the only thing between her and a potential bloodbath. What’s left of the walls around her tremble and shake. The sound of the wind is ear-splitting now; she can’t hear anything else, except the occasional deafening roars of the beast called Eternatus. She doesn’t know exactly what waits for her on the rooftop, but she knows that if she doesn’t hurry, the energy plant will be crumbling underneath her before she can even confront it, so with a steely sigh, she crosses that final boundary between her and the rooftop.

Immediately, the brightness is absolutely blinding, Lianna’s hand reflexively reaching to grab her glasses and grip them tightly to the bridge of her nose as the wind tries to rip them away. Everything around her is glowing bright red with the eye-searing light that radiates off of the skeletal serpent that is Eternatus. The Pokemon is massive, massive on a scale that puts even the Dynamax Pokemon she just saw to shame, twisting and twirling in midair. It takes her a moment to realize that it’s writhing in  _ pain _ , great chains of bright red energy binding it tightly to the rooftop, keeping it bound in place right above another circular energy spot. Rose must have snared it here, in hopes of using its power to eternally recharge the energy spot and harness its energy into useable electricity. A dastardly plan indeed, hurting a Pokemon like this.

But, Lianna couldn’t free it even if she knew how. Eternatus is furious, screeching its pain and anger to the dark clouds that circulate above it in the blackened sky, and if she freed it now, she’s certain it would only go on a rampage and devastate all of Galar.

“Lianna!”

It’s Rosa’s voice. Lianna follows it behind a spire of crumbling concrete that still stands in Eternatus’ wake, rounding the corner at a run. She skids to a halt and her heart stops at the sight.

Rosa is cradling Leon’s head in her lap, his body sprawling across the concrete rooftop limply. She thinks he’s dead at first, until she sees the swallow rise and fall of his chest. He’s breathing. Alive. But, certainly not well, blood dripping from the corners of his lips as it wells up in his mouth, to trickle over his cheeks and along his jaw and mat in his purple hair. Almost comically, his snapback is somehow still on, and Lianna might have laughed at that fact if he weren’t obviously mortally wounded.

Lianna sinks to her knees, crumbling over him as tears well up in her eyes unbeckoned. “Oh, Arceus...please, no…,” she pleads with a deity that never hears her. Rosa leans back on her palms and grunts in pain, suddenly grabbing her right arm. Lianna glances up only long enough to realize that it’s very, very broken, bone splintering through skin, her stomach sick at the sight. The last thing she wants to do right now is throw up, so she hides her face in the crook of Leon’s neck as she sinks down onto the cold concrete beside him and helplessly wails.

“Hey,” Rosa remarks gruffly, “That won’t do us any good, now will it? Keep his head up. Keep him steady. And pick a god and pray.”

Lianna chokes on her tears. “I know it’s bad when even you say to just pray, Rosa.”

“Where’s Rose?”

“Downstairs. I beat him,” Lianna says, “Where are the kids?”

Rose jerks her chin towards Eternatus, wincing in pain as she does. “S-See for yourself.”

Lianna peers around the concrete column shielding them from the brunt of Eternatus’ wrath only long enough to realize that Hop and Aisling are  _ battling  _ Eternatus. And they’re not alone.

“What...are those?” Lianna manages to ask through the shock quickly welling up inside of her as she cradles her beloved’s head in her hands and silently pleads with him not to die.

“Pokemon,” Rosa says with a shrug, “Zacian and Zamazenta, Hop called ‘em. Said some sword and shield he and Aisling picked up at the Slumbering Weald summoned ‘em here, and that they would help them take down Eternatus.”

“Like in the Darkest Day,” Lianna murmurs, before her forehead sinks back down to Leon’s. She’s trembling with tears, sobs wracking through her throat wildly. Rosa reaches for her with her good hand, trying and failing to comfort her.

Debris swirls in the wind around them. A piece of shrapnel catches Lianna across the cheek and leaves an ugly gash that immediately starts to weep blood, but she barely notices as she holds Leon’s head in her arms and cries over him. His breathing is present, but shallow, his chest dipping very slightly in its tight athletic wear before it rises once more. He occasionally makes a gasping sound, like he’s in pain, which he must be - Lianna can tell just from a glimpse that he’s suffering from broken ribs, and the blood seeping from one corner of his chapped lips speaks of possible internal bleeding. Finally, she finds her voice, her teary-eyed gaze not leaving Leon as she addresses Rosa, “What happened?”

“He took a direct hit from that thing,” Rosa says, jerking her chin towards Eternatus, who is recoiling in pain as the blue-and-gold Pokemon called Zacian assaults it with...a sword? A Pokemon wielding a sword? Galar really is strange. “Wore it down with his Charizard, then tried to catch it, but it broke free and tried to attack the kids. Leon...got in the way.”

Lianna absentmindedly shakes her head. “Of course he did...he’s heroic like that…” Her fingers thread through his hair, bringing his head closer to her chest. There are a few sizable scrapes running up the length of his abdomen, which she sees through the tattered remains of the latter half of his shirt, and purple-black bruises are already forming around the impact sight, but externally, he appears mostly fine. But, that worries her even more; he could be internally hemorrhaging to death as they speak, and she’s powerless to stop it.

Another piece of shrapnel hits Lianna in the back, ripping through shirt and skin, and this time, she feels it enough to wince. Even over the roar of the wind, she can hear the Pokemon a few meters away barking and howling, while Eternatus screeches back at them in defiance. She can hear voices, too, belonging to Hop and Aisling, but they’re indistinct over the sounds of the wind and the rush of her own blood in her ears, her heart hammering away in her chest so hard that she’s certain it would hurt if she had the sense left about her to feel it. Her race here from the stadium had been fueled by panic. Battling Rose had been exhilarating, stroking her dark need for revenge. And that final push up the stairs to the rooftop had been absolutely anxiety-inducing. But now...she just feels numb.

This reminds her of something - of shrinking against the howling wind on the rooftop of the Sky Pillar as she calls upon Rayquaza for help, to please save Hoenn from the feuding Groudon and Kyogre her father and his enemy-turned-lover awakened. Back then, it was her who had been the young, plucky, noble hero to seek out a legendary for help at a time like this - but she’s no longer that hero, and maybe she never really had been. Afterwards, Lianna had challenged Champion Steven and taken his title for her own, but it was short-lived. Despite all the things that had worked out for her, Lianna had never truly been happy or felt fulfilled - until now.

Leon changed everything.

And now, he’s broken and unconscious in her arms while flying shrapnel tears at her and Rosa like cheese through a grater - but she barely feels the sting of fresh wounds seeping blood into her clothing as the shock sets in. Rosa calls out to her, but she doesn’t hear her. Rosa nudges her with the toe of her shoe, but she doesn’t feel her. Her mind has fled from the scene, to a safer place where she’s remembering the night she met Leon, twirling with him on the dance floor before she dragged him away for an impromptu battle. She doesn’t even notice when the wind around them abruptly stops, the silence somehow more deafening than the sound had been. There’s a roar, and then nothing.

Someone touches her shoulder. She blinks and looks around. How long has it been? The wind has stopped. The black clouds have subsided, sending sunlight streaming down on them once again. The sudden light is too bright; it hurts her eyes. Again, fingers touch her shoulder; she swats at them irritably. The wind is back, but it’s different this time, coming in choppy strokes that sound eerily like a helicopter. And then, before she realizes what’s happening, someone is lifting her up and placing her on her back on a stretcher, and carrying her away somewhere. She doesn’t really care where.

It’s another few minutes before Lianna comes out of shock enough to realize that she’s in the back of a helicopter, Aisling and Hop huddled together on the floor nearby, while Rosa sits beside her on a bench while a paramedic temporarily patches up the splintered mess that is her right arm. There’s a hand in hers, feeling limp and weak as their twined fingers dangle between two stretchers. She dares to look over, and everything comes rushing back.

It’s Leon.

* * *

Lianna is in the discharged from the hospital the following morning, when the provider and nurses can no longer tolerate her demands to see Leon and decide that her fire is testament enough to her recovery to free her. She leaves her room with a patient belongings bag filled with a toothbrush, Pokeballs, and the shredded remains of her favorite flannel. She’s dressed in a borrowed set of sickly green scrubs that the nurse had given her, gauze wrapped around one elbow where her IV had been minutes prior. There are stitches in her cheek, so neatly done that she isn’t at all concerned about scarring, and in two separate gashes somewhere on her abdomen. The doctor had told her twice that she has three cracked ribs, but she doesn’t remember how she broke them. Flying debris, she guesses.

Rosa meets her in the hallway, her right arm set in a purple cast and hanging in a sling beside her. There are a line of sutures in her eyebrow; something had narrowly missed her right eye. She beams when she sees Lianna, prompting, “Hey, Lee! How ya feeling?”

“I’ll feel better,” Lianna says rather curtly, “when I know Leon is alright. I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? The doc says you were in pretty severe shock, that’s why they kept you overnight,” Rosa replies, “It’s a bummer about your ribs, too.”

“I’ll live,” Lianna reassures her with a half-smile, “Have you seen Leon?”

Rosa hesitates, then answers with a short, “Yeah.”

Lianna doesn’t like the tone of her voice. “How...is he?”

“You should see for yourself,” Rosa says, then turns to take her down the hallway to Leon’s room. They pass through a set of double doors, with a sign hanging overhead labeling them as the entryway to the ICU.

Instantly, Lianna is terrified. She remembers little of the previous day’s events, her mind insistently blocking the memories out, but she remembers coming to slightly on the helicopter, just long enough for the sight of her beloved to send her right back into shock again. He had looked like a corpse, with the color bleeding out of his skin and blood dripping from one corner of his lips. It had scared her in a way she didn’t know she could be scared. She thought she had known fear before, but no, not like this.

Rosa stops and talks to someone at the nurse’s station, while Lianna puts her belongings down in a nearby chair and walks into Leon’s room.

He’s on his back in an elevated hospital bed, with no shortage of machinery beeping and humming around him, at least two IVs attached to his arms and covered up with pieces of gauze. There’s still little color to his skin, but it isn’t completely white the way it had been on the helicopter. She knows just enough about healthcare to know that the steady, rhythmic beeping from the meters all around him means he’s stable - for now. One of the transparent fluid bags hanging from his IV stand is a deep burgundy red - a blood transfusion, probably one of several he’s had to have while she was stuck in her own bed down the hall.

There are footsteps behind her. Rosa’s hand falls gently on her shoulder. “He’s in a coma, Lee,” she says bluntly.

Lianna doesn’t cry. She wants to, but her body doesn’t have it left in it to do so right now. Instead, she brushes Rosa’s hand off and sinks into the bed beside him, mindful of the many things hooked up to him as she nestles into his side and tries to think about anything besides how  _ not warm  _ he feels. The covers are warm, though; there’s a heated blanket on him, trying to bring his temperature up and keep it steady.

“Lee, I’m gonna go check on Hop and Aisling,” Rosa says, but Lianna barely hears her, miles away in her own head, “Someone will probably come in and talk to you, okay? I’ll come back to see you guys in a few hours.”

“Okay,” Lianna manages, and then Rosa is gone.

She presses her face into the bruised nape of Leon’s neck and silently cries.

A nurse comes in and checks him periodically. A provider comes in after a few hours and speaks to her, none of it reassuring. Rosa pops in and out, offers food, and leaves again. Someone turned the TV hanging in the corner of the room on at some point, but Lianna didn’t notice until she heard Leon’s voice playing on it. She glances up at it; it’s a clip from the champion cup the morning prior, when Leon had been giving his opening speech. He’s healthy, strong, and confident onscreen, nothing like the wilted man she clings to in a hospital bed now. The clip breaks into coverage from a reporter about the Eternatus incident and how Aisling and Hop had stopped the rampaging Dynamax Pokemon with the help of two unknown Pokemon. Aisling had even managed to capture it, and it was now safely restrained in her PC until she deemed it fit to be free again. 

Lianna scowls into Leon’s shoulder when Chairman Rose appears onscreen, with the reporter covering how he had turned himself in after the incident. She hopes he rots in prison, spending the rest of his miserable life in a cage - but she also knows that the wealthy rarely do.

Night comes. Nurses and other staff are in and out, checking vitals and changing IVs, but Leon never responds to them. Eventually, Lianna falls asleep in the bed beside him, arms wrapped limply around his chest, careful not to hold him too tightly or disturb the many things currently attached to his body. She dreams about Eternatus and Rose and Leon being hurt and two legendary heroes who sweep in and save the day.

But mostly, she just lays awake and cries. 


	21. Chapter 21

For three days, Leon is in a coma. The room is a constant bustle of providers, nurses, miscellaneous medical staff, and visitors, namely Rosa, Hop, and Leon’s mother, who is so beside herself with grief that she can barely stand to look at her comatose son. The only indication that he’s alive at all is the steady beep, beep, beep of the heart monitor attached to him.

For three days, Lianna waits. Rosa offers her food. She picks at it briefly each time, before ultimately throwing it away, her stomach too sick with worry to have any genuine interest in food. She barely sleeps, standing constant vigil over Leon even though he’s as safe as he possibly can be here in the ICU of Galar’s finest hospital. She talks to Hop and Leon’s mother when she can, but mostly only cries alongside them. Rosa tries to comfort her, to no avail. Stickybun, periodically free from her Pokeball when the medical staff aren’t around to protest, slithers about on the tiled floor beside the bed and croons at Leon, not understanding why he won’t acknowledge her, before Lianna returns her again.

Lianna has briefly drifted off from exhaustion on the fourth morning since the Eternatus incident, when she startles awake to the sensation of fingers in her hair. She lifts her head, blinks blearily, and is suddenly wide awake when she sees the honey-golden eyes gazing fondly back at her, accompanied by the weak but tender smile on Leon’s chapped lips.

“Leon!” Lianna gasps, her arms instantly around him as she squeezes him as tightly as she can with the tangle of cords and IVs between them. He grunts faintly in pain and she releases him with a coy, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Leon says in a whisper, voice hoarse from disuse. She’s on her feet in an instant, getting him a glass of water and a straw, holding it to his lips gently for him to take a sip while she threads her fingers through his rather greasy hair. “What happened?”

“How much do you remember?” Lianna asks, watching as he takes slow sips of water and swallows them very slowly and deliberately, throat bobbing with effort.

“I remember...the champion cup, the chairman interrupting, Eternatus…,” Leon drawls, briefly trying to sit upright before he slumps backwards into the pillows propping him up, “Are the kids okay?”

“They’re fine, Leon,” Lianna reassures him, “Stay down. I’m going to go get the doctor.”

“Wait,” Leon protests hoarsely. Lianna pauses halfway to the open doorway, a curtain drawn closed over it for privacy, and glances back at him over her shoulder. He looks worried, eyebrows drawn together tightly. “Did someone stop Eternatus?”

Lianna nods, smiling faintly. “I think you already know the answer to that.”

Leon smiles, too, but it’s weak, with none of the usual fire in his amber eyes. This wasn’t the smile that lit up entire stadiums and sent crowds into fiery applause with excitement. This was the smile of someone who was grateful to just be alive. “It was Aisling, wasn’t it?”

“It was,” Lianna says.

Leon reclines his head and looks at the ceiling, still smiling faintly. “I knew it. That kid’s really something else.”

Lianna hums in agreement, then fetches a nurse. Soon, she’s crowded into the corner while a provider and an entire team of nurses and specialists huddles around Leon, checking his vitals and asking too many questions. Lianna listens intently all the while, until the medical staff slowly trickle out of the room, leaving her alone with her boyfriend once again. She returns to his side promptly, threading her fingers through his hair.

“I’ve really been out for three whole days?” Leon asks.

“You have,” Lianna says, sitting down lightly on the edge of the bed, cupping his cheek lightly. She strokes his skin, rough with stubble, with her thumb as she watches him, when she realizes that there are suddenly tears in her eyes. “I thought I lost you, champ.”

Leon frowns. “You’ve been here the entire time, haven’t you?”

“Of course I have!” Lianna replies, and then she’s stretching out with her legs trailing behind her and her head rested on his chest. His heartbeat sounds reassuringly steady, beating in time with the beeping of its monitor. “I wasn’t about to leave you here alone, champ.”

Leon smiles, shakily placing a hand on her lower back and stroking softly. “How’s Hop? How’s my mom?”

“They’re both pretty shaken up, understandably so,” Lianna says, reluctantly sitting upright, “I should call them and let them know you’re up.”

Leon nods. Lianna retrieves her patient belongings bag from the cheap plastic chair in the corner and finds her Rotom phone. She texts Hop and Leon’s mother with the good news, then returns to the bed to lie back down with him, suddenly acutely aware that she’s both very hungry and very tired.

Leon notices the white plastic hospital bag her phone was in, fingering the hem of the borrowed sickly green scrubs she’s wearing. “What’s this?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Lianna brushes him off, but Leon insists, pouting at her until she reluctantly confesses, “The nurses gave me some spare scrubs to wear when they discharged me. I was a little scraped up from the whole Eternatus thing.”

“You were there?” Leon asks, a tight line between his brows.

“Of course I was, champ,” Lianna replies, “You didn’t think I wasn’t going to come looking for you after Rose’s little announcement at the tournament, did you? Or that I was going to leave two kids all alone to handle it?”

Leon chuckles. “Guess not, but still. You shouldn’t have thrown yourself into harm’s way for me, Lee. I would rather you be safe back at the stadium than anywhere near that energy plant.”

“Oh, Leon, are you forgetting that I was a champion myself, not so very long ago? This isn’t my first rodeo, and it won’t be my last,” Lianna reminds him, smiling faintly as she peers up at him, “Besides, someone had to kick the chairman’s ass for everything he’s done to you. And it sure as hell wasn’t going to be anyone but me.”

This seems to surprise him, his right brow quirking up in curiosity. “You fought Rose?”

“I won,” Lianna surmises with a cheeky grin, which fades fast when the neat line of sutures in her cheek promptly reminds her of their presence with a sharp sting, “You can think Stickybun for the smackdown she gave him later.”

“You fought Rose and won...with  _ Sticky _ ?” Leon frankly gapes. “You fought him with a  _ Goomy _ ?”

“I fought him with a Goomy and  _ won _ , thank you,” Lianna quips, “Stickybun can level entire cities. Don’t underestimate her.”

“But...how?” Leon gawks.

“That Dynamax band you gave me certainly helped,” Lianna chuckles, belatedly realising exactly how ridiculous this all is.

“You kicked Rose’s ass with a Dynamax Goomy,” Leon repeats.

“I did,” Lianna confirms, “and I’m sure Stickybun will be happy to show you how strong she really is later, once you’re back on your feet, champ.”

Leon closes his eyes and smiles. “I’ll be sure to remember that.”

It’s a few minutes more before Leon’s mother and Hop arrive, so Lianna dismisses herself to the cafeteria for a snack while the family reunites. She texts Rosa to let her know that Leon has woken up on her way back through the hospital, before slipping back into Leon’s room to eat a bag of chips and sip from a bottle of water. But, Leon’s mother is hugging him and crying and it’s only a matter of time before Lianna is hugging them both and crying right along with her. It’s two hours more before their tears are fully dry and Leon’s mother is reluctantly leaving his side to return home and give him some space to rest. A provider comes in a few minutes later to check on him and deems him ‘surprisingly well’ for what he’s been through.

“Takes more than that to stop me,” Leon chuckles once the doctor has left, his head nestled in the crook of Lianna’s shoulder as she reclines beside him, listening to her stomach grumble and gripe, “You should eat.”

“I will,” Lianna reassures him, pressing her lips to his forehead softly, “But right now, I don’t want to leave your side, not even for a moment.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” Leon objects, “Go get something to eat.”

Lianna grumbles combatively, squeezing him tighter instead, careful not to hug him where he’s too sore to tolerate it. He smiles into the underside of her throat, his shaky fingers tentatively groping the sheets around them for her hand. He finds it and threads their fingers together. His skin feels colder than usual, even now, and Lianna is so blissfully warm beside him.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Leon says softly after a moment.

“I wouldn’t dare be anywhere else, not right now,” Lianna reassures him, arms hanging limply around his waist.

“I love you,” Leon tells her. He might be feeble and weak, but his earnesty is as strong as ever. Even now, her cheeks flush pink every time she hears it.

“I love you, too,” she says, and then she kisses him as softly as she can, as if she’s worried he might break if she’s the slightest bit too rough, stopping when she  _ hears  _ his heart actually skip a beat on the monitor. She chuckles, pulling away slowly.

Leon chuckles, too. “Sorry. It’s always as exciting as it was the first time with you.”

Lianna’s face softens at his sincerity. She’s about to reply with something equally as sugary-sweet and cheesy when her Rotom phone comes out of her satchel with an electronic whir, levitating midair as it rings. Groaning, Lianna waves it over and pulls it up to her ear, answering it with a, “Hello?”

Leon leans back and listens, fingers drumming softly on her hipbone. She winces faintly when he accidentally raps on a bruise.

“Daddy?” Lianna’s face shifts with surprise, then her brows turn down in a scowl. “What do you mean you’re in the lobby? It’s room two twenty-one. Alright. Alright. See you in a few.”

Lianna releases her Rotom phone after hanging up and it levitates over to rest on the side table, screen going black. “Don’t panic,” she says quickly, “but you’re about to meet my parents.”

Leon chuckles, combing his fingers through what he can reach of his hair with a trail of IVs following his every movement. “Hope they like me fresh out of a coma and still slightly high on painkillers.”

She presses a kiss to his forehead, glasses sliding down the bridge of her nose. “They’ll love you, champ. Rosa must’ve told them I was in the hospital and they panicked. They could’ve called first, but no, it’s just like my dads to just show up.” She chuckles, not without fondness. “They always worry.”

“I would worry, too, if it were my kid,” Leon says with a slight shrug that makes him wince, “I understand.”

“I’ll make sure they don’t stay long,” Lianna promises, tucking the single stiff white sheet in around him as she stands, “You need to rest, champ.”

“What, the three day coma wasn’t enough rest?” Leon quips. Lianna clicks her tongue at him, then turns to meet her father at the door when she hears the familiar rapping pattern of his shoes on the tiles in the hallway. He meets her there, arms instantly around her as he squeezes her tightly enough to make her wince.

“Easy, my ribs are already broke, you know!” Lianna remarks, but she’s grinning happily as she leans back and looks at her father, hands on his shoulders, “I don’t need you breaking the ones I have left by squeezing me like an Ursaring.”

“Lianna!” Maxie exclaims, then hugs her again, wordlessly. Leon smiles as he watches their reunion, empathizing with how Maxie must feel after hearing his daughter was hospitalized, however briefly, after a month and a half away from her. He’s struck by how alike the two look: the same sharp features, the same deep-set eyes, the same burgundy red hair, Lianna’s just a touch darker. A taller, broader man comes in behind him, and Lianna is instantly being scooped up by the hips and spun in a circle.

“Scamp! What are ya  _ doing? _ ” Archie demands to know, grinning cheekily as he sets her back down on her feet, “We don’t ‘ear from ya in days an’ then Rosa calls us an’ tells us yer in the bloody hospital! Warn us next time before ya go off fightin’ legendaries an’ punchin’ government officials!”

“I did  _ not  _ punch anyone,” Lianna protests, privately wondering what exactly Rosa told them.

Maxie straightens his glasses the same way Lianna does. “Rosa says otherwise. We hear that Stickybun gave someone quite the battle.”

“She did,” Lianna agrees, grinning now, “You would have been proud.”

“Alright, Lianna, show us the damage,” Maxie insists, steepling his fingers, “Rosa said you had three broken ribs and stitches in three places.

Lianna hitches her scrub top up high enough to show them the two neat lines of sutures, the third already clearly visible on her cheek. “The ribs aren’t too bad, I honestly didn’t even know I broke them until the doctor told me.”

Archie laughs. Maxie stops him from clapping her on the back. “Battle scars!” he says uproariously, then points to the stitches inset in her cheek and grins proudly, “Hey, scamp, maybe we’ll match!”

“I hope not!” Lianna says, giving him a playful shove, “I don’t want an ugly mug like yours!”

“Aw, scamp, yer breakin’ my heart!” Archie laughs, before Maxie clears his throat to silence him. He’s eying Leon apprehensively now, silvery-grey eyes glinting sharply behind his glasses. Leon recognizes that look; Lianna has the same sort of glare in her eyes during a battle, like a fire lit within and carefully contained.

“Lianna, care to introduce us?” Maxie prompts.

“Of course,” Lianna says, bringing them both over to Leon’s bedside by their hands. They follow along behind her easily, and Leon can tell in an instant that both men are absolutely whipped for their daughter. “This is Leon, my boyfriend. Leon, this is my dad, Maxie, and my stepdad, Archie.”

“Nice to meet you,” Leon says hoarsely as he shakes both their hands, his own feeble and still shaky.

“Crikey, mate,” Archie exclaims, “Ya look like ya’ve been through the ringer! What happened?”

“Archie,” Lianna says sharply and Archie reluctantly backs off, but Leon only chuckles good-naturedly as she sits down on the bed beside him, resting her chin atop his head of messy undone hair, “I’m sure you’ve both seen the news coverage by now.”

“We have,” Maxie replies, frowning sharply, “Eternatus, hmm? And that chairman has turned himself in now?”

“He has,” Lianna says, nodding absentmindedly, “Good riddance.”

“Mmhmm,” Leon hums in agreement, his head reclined on Lianna’s shoulder. Maxie watches him closely for a moment, then relaxes when he sees that tender haze in Lianna’s gaze when she glances down at her partner and smiles softly. Archie, meanwhile, was never tense to begin with.

“So, Leon, I’ve heard a lot about you,” Maxie muses. His face is like a mask, expressionless and held staunchly in place, stiff and pale as porcelain.

“All of it good, I hope,” Leon chuckles feebly, only slightly unnerved.

“If I had heard anything bad, I wouldn’t be speaking to you so cordially,” Maxie replies, then breaks into what Leon thinks is a small smile, “Lianna is very fond of you.”

“I’m sitting right here,” Lianna pipes up.

“I’m fond of her, too,” Leon says, fingers twining sweetly with hers.

Maxie nods, seemingly pleased. “If she trusts you, then so do I. I look forward to getting to know you better, Leon. I’m sorry these are the circumstances we meet in, we wish you a swift recovery.”

“Don’t go quarrelin’ with any more legendaries!” Archie helpfully adds, beaming toothily, “If Lianna loves ya so much, we can’t have ya gettin’ into any more trouble!”

Lianna rolls her eyes. “You’re both embarrassing. Go home.”

“We’re staying in a hotel not far from here,” Maxie informs her, “We thought that, since we’re here, we would stay and watch the championship match, whenever that might be. I trust you’re not going to leave your partner so easily while he’s hurt, after all. So, we’ll be here when the time comes. And then, we can return to Alola together.”

Lianna is listening good-naturedly up until the end, when she suddenly frowns, her gaze dipping away from Maxie’s to settle on Leon. His eyes have drifted closed. He’s tired, even with all of them carrying on around him. “Right…”

Maxie arches a brow, but doesn’t comment. “He seems tired. We’ll leave you two in peace for the night, but I trust we’ll see you tomorrow, yes?”

“Of course,” Lianna says, nodding.

“We’ll bring ya some breakfast in the morning, scamp!” Archie adds, offering her a fist to bump, something they’ve been doing since she was a meager child of sixteen and has just carried on into her adulthood.

Maxie smiles at her, in that fond fatherly way of his, his eyes momentarily soft. “Goodnight, Lianna. You swear to me that you’re really alright?”

“I swear it,” Lianna says. He seems satisfied, humming as he starts for the door with his hands behind his back.

“See you tomorrow, Lianna. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Daddy,” she says, Leon snoring softly on her shoulder now. He must have been exhausted and she looks over his sleeping -  _ sleeping _ , not comatose, she has to remind herself - form with a fond smile when she realizes that Archie is still there.

She looks at him. He puts a finger to his lips, then offers her an outstretched fist. She reaches out and a single shrunken Pokeball drops into her palm. Archie smiles, ruffles her hair, then waves goodbye as he leaves. She stares at the Pokeball as she listens to their footsteps vanishing down the hallway, fading into harmony with the soft inhale and exhale of Leon’s breath beside her. She knows exactly what it is.

Lianna tucks the Pokeball into the pocket of her scrubs for now, reclining into the pillows to welcome sleep with Leon snoring peacefully beside her. After three long nights, things finally, finally feel alright again.

* * *

It’s three more days before the provider begrudgingly agrees to discharge Leon, who has by now mostly returned to his usual self, albeit with a bit less vigor than usual in his movements and how he speaks. Lianna meets Maxie and Archie for breakfast and dinner everyday, but otherwise remains vigilantly by Leon’s side, pensively overseeing every change of his IV and draw of his blood and poke and prod that the nurses administer. Hop and his mother visit them everyday, and Aisling and Rosa stop by to check on them periodically. Pokemon are expressly forbidden from the ICU, aside from the Chansey and Audino that accompany the physical therapists and nurses, so Lianna reluctantly sends her Pokemon home with her fathers the day before Leon is discharged, knowing that Stickybun must be getting awfully restless inside her Pokeball.

Leon is ordered to rest when he’s discharged, for at least another week or so, but he immediately disobeys, already planning his return to the battlefield the instant he arrives home at his flat, which feels slightly dusty and tepid after his time away. Week-old dishes sit stagnant in the sink. Lianna sets about washing and drying them while Leon phones an organizer from the Pokemon League to arrange for his unexpectedly delayed championship match with Aisling. When he settles on a date - in  _ three days _ , like he hasn’t just had a near-death experience that left him temporarily comatose - and hangs up the phone cheerily, Lianna is giving him a sharp look, a hand on her hip.

“What?” Leon remarks innocently.

“You really think you’re ready for a  _ championship match  _ that soon?” Lianna retorts, “You  _ were  _ just in the hospital, or did you already forget that, champ?”

“Didn’t forget,” Leon chides, grinning cheekily, “Just excited.”

Lianna rolls her eyes good-naturedly as she dries her hands on a dish towel, then sits down beside him on the sofa, an arm around his shoulders. The color has returned to his cheeks and his ambery-yellow eyes are bright and cheery, despite the dark semi-circles steadily forming underneath them. He looks better. So much better. “You should be excited to sleep in your own bed tonight. Nobody  _ really  _ gets any rest in a hospital. It’s too loud, too many people in and out.”

He exhales in relief. “You can say that again.”

“Are you allowed to shower?” she asks.

“Why, do I stink?” he teases.

Lianna chuckles, giving him a very gentle shove. “Yeah, you do. You haven’t showered in six days.”

“Doctor said it should be fine,” he says, nodding absentmindedly, “Good thing, too. I can’t go into my biggest match of the year looking like  _ this. _ ”

She traces the outline of his overgrown facial hair, the once neatly groomed stubble now grown out of its usual shape and looking unusually patchy. “You need to shave.”

“It’s on my to-do list,” Leon chuckles as he reclines his head into the back of the sofa and closes his eyes for a moment, before they promptly snap back open. He lifts his head and looks at her, grinning cheekily. “Hey, you know what I can’t believe?”

She quirks a brow. “What?”

“This entire time, you haven’t kissed me  _ once _ ,” he retorts, with a pout on his lower lip and in his voice, “How am I supposed to get better if you won’t kiss me?”

Lianna rolls her eyes and pecks him softly on the lips. At least he’s been able to brush his teeth and use mouthwash in the ICU. “There, you happy?”

“Nope,” Leon remarks, before he wraps an arm around her waist loosely and kisses her again.

There’s a knock on the door a few hours later. It’s Leon’s mother and Hop, bringing them takeout for dinner. Maxie comes by shortly afterward to return Lianna’s Pokemon to her. She immediately releases Stickybun from her Pokeball, completely unsurprised when the Goomy is very cranky and irritated with her, but she’s quickly forgiven when she picks her up and places her in her lap on the sofa to share her dinner with her. Leon eats what he can, then reaches over to take Sticky, holding her gently as she nuzzles underneath his scruffy chin and purrs happily.

It’s nighttime before Hop and his mother leave. Lianna helps Leon into the shower, to which he chuckles, insists he’s fine, and drags her into the spray of hot water right behind him, to kiss her deeply under its rain. Lianna comes away from his lips laughing and swatting him playfully, stripping his soaked shirt off to shower with him. She washes their hair, careful of the covered sutures on her abdomen and Leon’s arms and shoulders. Leon’s entire body is mottled purple-blue with slowly healing bruises; she has a similar patch of discoloration above her ribs, where they were broken by flying shrapnel. She chuckles and shakes her head when she catches sight of them in the mirror while they’re drying off, both disheveled and unruly-looking with tousled hair, week-old eye bags, and bruises and stitches and scrapes all over to remind them of their misadventure on the rooftop of the energy plant.

Leon is in bed half an hour later, his hair fluffy and dry from the hairdryer. Lianna slides into bed beside him a moment later, her arms instantly around him as she nuzzles her face between his shoulder blades and sighs contently. Stickybun slithers into the empty space above them, sinking into the sheets comfortably. It’s quiet.

Finally, Lianna speaks, “You really scared me, champ.”

“I know I did,” Leon answers softly, fingers curled over hers where they’re knotted in the fabric of his sleep shirt, “I really scared me, too. Trust me, it wasn’t intentional.”

“I know,” she says, “You were just trying to do the right thing by going after Rose and stopping Eternatus. I just hope you never have to do it again.”

Leon exhales unsteadily. “Yeah. Me, too.”

There’s silence again, before Leon breaks it a few minutes later, “When are you going back to Alola?”

“I don’t know,” Lianna answers honestly, “Whenever you’re fully recovered, I guess. I don’t wanna leave you here alone in this shape, even if you think you’re ready to go back to battling. You idiot.” She chuckles affectionately.

Leon smiles softly. “Yeah, but I’m your idiot.”

“That you are, champ,” she agrees, squeezing him gently, her breath warm on the back of his neck. She feels so perfectly at home, tucked into bed beside him, with their legs tangled together and her head at his back and her arms around him. She never wants to leave his side. She doesn’t want to leave. “My bullheaded, headstrong, stupidly brave idiot. And I wouldn’t have you any other way. You know that, right?”

“I’ve never been so happy to be called an idiot before,” Leon chuckles, then shifts onto his side and turns around until he can face her, hands resting softly on her hips, “You should stay.”

Lianna’s half-lidded eyes open wider, suddenly alert. “Huh?”

“You should stay here in Galar,” Leon says, tongue trailing over his lower lip nervously as his gaze darts away, “with me.”

The thought makes Lianna’s chest flutter harder for a moment. The feeling it rouses settles deep down in her chest, where it sits heavily as she gazes back at him, smiling softly. Her hands wriggle out from underneath the sheets to cup his face, bringing him in for a peck on the lips. “I would like that,” she says.

Leon perks up, arching a brow. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Lianna agrees, before her smile turns sad, “But, I think my dads would miss me an awful lot, don’t you?”

He frowns, brows drooping, eyes softening sadly. “You’re right. They would. They love you a lot, huh? I can tell, just from seeing you guys together the past few days. You’re their world.”

Lianna guides his head down to her shoulder, encouraging him to rest. “We’ve only had each other for years now. They’re very protective of me. But, they like you. Even Maxie.”

“You look like him sometimes,” Leon chuckles into the nape of her neck, a bit sadly, “You have the same eyes. You both straighten your glasses the same way. You get the same wrinkle between your eyebrows when you’re thinking too hard.”

Lianna smiles into the dark room fondly. “Somebody’s been paying close attention.”

“There wasn’t much else to do in the hospital,” he reminds her, “I’m sorry. For worrying you. And for suggesting you should stay here with me instead of going home with your family. That was selfish of me.”

“It wasn’t,” Lianna replies, “and besides, I’ve thought about it, too, you know.”

“You have?”

“Of course I have,” she says, squeezing him gently, “I love you, Leon. I don’t want to be away from you for months at a time. I want to wake up right here beside you everyday. I want you to be the last thing I see every night before I fall asleep. I want to decorate a dumb little house with you and do stupid couple stuff like take selfies together and bicker over whose turn it is to wash the dishes. I want a life with you.”

Leon smiles, but she can’t see it from where she rests above him. “We could have that, you know. A life together.”

Lianna considers it. “You would always be off attending to your champion duties. I might get lonely here alone.”

“I won’t be champion forever,” he reminds her.

“It’s hard to imagine you as anything else, prince,” she chuckles softly, playing with a strand of his hair, “You’re undefeatable, remember?”

“Guess we’ll see about that in three days,” Leon muses, then nuzzles her neck, “But, even if I was champion forever, I would still make time for you. Every single day. You mean more to me than some title.”

“And we haven’t known each other terribly long. I might be horrible to live with and you might get tired of having me around,” Lianna says.

“I’ll never get tired of you, Lee,” Leon replies, squeezing a handful of her hip gently, “You mean the world to me. I want you to be happy. I want a life with you.”

“You say that now.”

“I’ll say that always.”

Lianna leans back to look at him, her brows raised incredulously. Then, she breaks into a smile and starts to laugh, hugging his head close to hers. She feels like she might cry for a moment, before he quietens the idea with a gentle kiss to her lips, broken swiftly. When she opens her eyes, squeezed closed with laughter, he’s gazing down at her fondly with a smile on his slightly scruffy face - and she realizes with a start that he  _ means  _ it. 

She threads her fingers through his hair. “You’ll get tired of me someday, I’m sure of it.”

“And I’m sure I won’t,” Leon retorts, puffing his cheeks up at her rather adorably in a pout, his lower lip pooched out slightly, “I love you, Lee. I think I always will.”

Lianna hesitates, then sighs. “I’m usually not sure about things. I wasn’t sure when I moved to Hoenn, I wasn’t sure when I became champion, I wasn’t even sure when I came here. But...there’s one thing I’m completely sure about. And that one thing is you.”

“Poetic,” Leon says with that earnest smile of his.

“I’ll think about it,” Lianna agrees.

“About staying?”

She nods.

Leon smiles. “Thank you.”

“No, champ. Thank  _ you _ .”

He quirks a brow curiously. “What for?”

Lianna smiles, kisses him on the tip of his nose. Then, she touches her forehead to his and watches him with the most earnest look in her eyes that she can willfully manage.

“For being my safeword.”


	22. Chapter 22

Lianna isn’t certain if Leon makes the world’s fastest miracle recovery from internal bleeding and being comatose for three days, or if he’s only pretending he’s perfectly fine so he’ll be cleared to return to the battlefield. But, she tells herself as she sits down in her box seat at the stadium a week later, Leon isn’t that good of an actor. She would know if he was only pretending he was okay, and the medical staff who meticulously looked him over the afternoon before would, too.

Stickybun croons in her arms as the bleachers around them quickly fill to the brim with excited onlookers, eager for the championship match that had been delayed for too long. Rosa is seated beside her with Hop and his mother. Archie and Maxie weren’t able to join them in the reserved seating area, but Leon managed to get them last-minute tickets for seats somewhere behind and to the left of them; Lianna can even hear Archie whooping in excitement during the opening ceremony, reassuring her that yes, they really are here. They’re lucky to be here, too; Leon and one of his government official friends had generously granted amnesty to Lianna’s Mightyena, Asher, after Archie had illegally smuggled him into the region on his way in. The silly drooly dope had simply missed her too much, Archie had said in self-defense when Lianna confronted him about it, but she was privately relieved to have him back, tucked safely into his Pokeball in the fanny pack that hung around her hips right now.

The opening ceremony is mostly regional announcements and the announcer congratulating Leon on his takedown of Chairman Rose and swift recovery from his serious injuries and Aisling on her capture of Eternatus. And then, a week after it was originally planned, the championship match finally begins.

Lianna watches the battle with a tense little frown, uncertainty blossoming in her chest. Part of her wants Leon to win. She wants him to proudly defend his title of undefeated champion for another year. She wants him to continue to be the crowning world champion. But, part of her, a part of her that she knows is selfish, wants him to lose. If he loses, she will no longer constantly share him with the spotlight, with government officials who want him to endorse their insane apocalyptic plans, with people who want him to magically fix their region-wide energy crisis. If he loses, Leon will be hers - hers, and Hop’s, and his mother’s - and he will finally be allowed to live a mostly normal life without the pressure of being champion. But, it’s hard to imagine him as anything but. He’s been champion for over half his life; it’s hard to believe he could ever lose his title now, much less to a twelve-year-old, no matter how skilled. Would it break his heart to lose? Would it ruin his pride?

Lianna frowns at herself. She knows it’s selfish. Leon is an adult and he can make his own decisions about whether or not he wants to continue to be champion after everything that’s happened. If he didn’t want it, he would have said something by now. So, she forces herself to smile, stands up, and cheers loudly for him from the stands as the battle wears on. Both Aisling and Leon are down three Pokemon now. It’s neck-and-neck, precisely the way Lianna imagined it would be. They’re both better trainers than she could ever hope to be and, no matter who wins, it’s sure to be a match for the ages, one that the people of Galar talk about over dinner for years to come. Not even Raihan’s, Leon’s lifelong rival, could give him a challenge like this, with Aisling’s Hydreigon swooping in to land the final blow on Leon’s Haxorus. He retaliates with his Inteleon several moments later, fainting the dragon type.

The battle wears on much longer than anticipated, a testament to the tenacity and skill of the two trainers. But, in the end, it comes down to Aisling’s Dynamax Bolthund - which Lianna has had a hard time taking seriously since Rosa informed her that it’s name is  _ Tater _ \- and Leon’s Gigantamax Charizard. Lianna is tense; Leon has his ace at his command, but Aisling’s ace, her Cinderace, has already fainted. The next few turns will determine the outcome, and those final few moments of battle drawl on for what feels like forever when the unthinkable happens.

Aisling’s Bolthund fires off a Thunder - and Leon’s Charizard falls.

Palpable silence settles on the arena as the fire dragon flaps its wings uselessly twice, then crumples to the ground in a heap as it slowly shrinks down to its normal size. A murmur sweeps over the crowd, people glancing between each other in confusion, not sure how to react - because their champion of fourteen years has been  _ defeated _ .

Lianna is shocked, too. She stares unblinkingly at Leon, her shock reflected in his own honey-golden eyes, stretched wide beneath brows arched high in surprise. He sweeps a hand through his hair, dislodging his cap, and catches it in one hand, holding it in front of his face for a hot second to hide that one moment of emotion from the watching world - and then he tosses it into the air and breaks out into cheers and applause as he approaches Aisling, offering her an outstretched hand.

The audience seems to belatedly process what has happened and, at Leon’s cheers, erupts into applause of their own. Beside Lianna, Rosa is on her feet, whooping and cheering and throwing her arms in a circle that nearly hits her as she stumbles back and falls flat on her butt on the bleachers, still shocked. Leon  _ lost _ . He actually  _ lost _ .

Her shock soon turns to selfish, selfish relief.

Leon is  _ free _ . Free to enjoy the life that his championship had robbed him off. Free to spend time with his mother, with Hop, with her. Free to exist outside of this stadium, outside of Rose Tower, outside of the spotlight with paparazzi patrolling after his every move, dictating his every thought and action and word. Leon can have a normal life now - and, based on how he’s hoisting Aisling up on his shoulder and presenting her to the world as Galar’s new champion, he’s just as happy about it as she is. Or maybe he isn’t, and this is just a show for the cameras and so Aisling doesn’t feel bad for stripping him of his title. But, then again, Leon still isn’t that good of an actor.

There’s a closing ceremony wherein Leon passes the theoretical torch to Aisling as Galar’s new champion - and then the stadium slowly begins to empty of its extremely excited crowd. Today is certainly one for the history books, the day that the undefeatable Champion Leon was finally bested, by a trainer he endorsed himself, no less, and they’re all very excited to have been there to witness it. Rosa is busy fighting her way through the crowd to reach Aisling, who is surrounded by reporters and staff, and Hop and his mother have already vanished on her other side. So, Lianna makes her way to where Archie and Maxie are waiting, and patiently waits for the moment when she can finally see Leon.

* * *

When an hour comes and goes and Leon hasn’t shown, Lianna decides to wait for him at his home instead. Archie and Maxie bid her farewell and return to their hotel, leaving her to trudge back to Leon’s flat in the ankle-deep Wyndon snow alone. Stickybun shivers in her arms, thoroughly displeased with this distasteful weather.

When Lianna arrives, she’s more than a little surprised to find that Leon is already there. The door is unlocked when she comes in, sitting Stickybun down on the sofa and approaching quietly when she sees his silhouette through the curtains that stand between the living room and the second-floor balcony. His back is to her, his purple hair blowing softly in the bitter cold evening breeze as he rests his elbows on the banister and looks down at Wyndon - the champion’s city, where he is no longer champion.

“Leon?” Lianna prompts softly.

He turns to her with a smile. “There you are. I was beginning to wonder when you’d be joining me, Lee,” he says, opening his arms to invite her into a hug. He isn’t wearing his cape; she had seen it draped over the back of an arm chair in the living room on her way in.

Lianna welcomes his embrace, stepping into his arms and hugging him around the waist eagerly. The closer she is to leaving, the more she enjoys his every little touch, hanging onto every brush, every squeeze, every kiss on the tip of her nose or her forehead when he thinks she’s asleep late at night. “How...are you?” she asks reluctantly, almost afraid of what she’ll hear. She had voluntarily given up her champion title; she had never known the pain of having it forcibly taken from her by a stronger trainer, nor had she been champion for even half as long as Leon. For her, it had hurt only slightly, a decision she knew she had to make to protect herself and her family. For him, it must have been like losing his identity, like having part of his very soul stripped away from him.

“I’m fine, Lee,” Leon reassures her, and there’s that beautiful smile of his, no longer lighting up stadiums and giving reporters something to photograph for the covers of magazines and web articles, a smile now just for her, just for him, “I told you I was going to lose, didn’t I?”

Lianna freezes, abruptly tense in his arms. Slowly, she peers up at him with a brow arched disbelievingly, her mouth open wide in a little O of surprise. Leon chuckles at the sight, squeezing her hips gently. “You...threw the match!” she blurts, punching him softly in the shoulder, mindful that he’s still very much recovering from taking a direct hit from a legendary, “You little shit! Leon!”

“You didn’t  _ really  _ think I lost to a twelve-year-old, did you?” Leon chuckles, bemused.

“Someone lost to you when you weren’t much older than that,” Lianna retorts, arms crossed over her chest as she pouts at him, “I can’t believe you! I’ve been worried sick about you all afternoon, wondering if you were okay after losing your title!”

“I’m more than okay,” Leon says, an arm around her waist as he leads her back over to the banister, to watch the bustling city below with him, “I’m free.”

Lianna’s expression softens and she sighs, her breath emerging in a soft white cloud of steam. “I would be lying if I said I hadn’t thought the same thing…but, it felt selfish to think like that. To want you to lose just because that’s what I thought was best for you. That isn’t for me to decide.”

“Fortunately for you,” Leon muses, smiling softly as he watches her from the corner of his eye, “I had already decided for you. I’m ready to have a normal life. And Aisling...she’s going to be a great leader for Galar. She doesn’t have to be a champion like me, because she can be a champion better than me. I believe in her.”

“And I do, too,” Lianna agrees, “She’s Rosa’s sister. If she’s anything like her, and I’m sure she is, then Galar’s in good hands.” She plucks at her lower lip with her teeth, worrying away at it, before she finally asks, “What...made you decide? That you didn’t wanna be champion anymore?”

Leon looks at her, smiling faintly. “It’s like you told me before, Lee. It wasn’t what I wanted anymore. Maybe being champion is what I wanted when I was fourteen, sixteen, eighteen, twenty...but now, it isn’t. Things change. I’ve changed, too.”

Lianna smiles too, pressing her forehead against his as he leans down to meet her halfway. “What do you want, prince?”

Leon blinks at her, with an unadulterated sort of adoration in those honey-golden eyes, his fingers threading with hers in-between them. “You.”

She stares at him for a moment, then shoves him playfully with a snort of laughter. “Leon! Don’t be so cheesy!”

“What?” Leon teases, peppering her cheeks with kisses, “It’s true!”

As much as she wants to protest, she can only smile, giggling girlishly as he litters her face with kisses from lips still slightly chapped from his hospital stay. “I love you, too, champ. I really do.”

She’s never meant anything more.

A comfortable silence settles on them as he squeezes her hips, watching intently as the snow starts to fall harder around them, accumulating on the bannister and burying the crumbling black stems of the long-dead plants in his flower boxes. Unknown to Lianna, those poor flowers were dead long before winter could kill them.

After a moment, she pipes up, “What are you gonna do now, prince?”

Leon considers it for a moment, then glances sideways at her with a smirk. “Well, I did have an idea awhile back.”

She quirks a brow questioningly.

“Rose turned himself in. His company is closed. His employees are all out of work and Rose Tower is completely empty, so I thought...what if we turned it into something else? Something better,” Leon muses, “Like a Battle Tower.”

Chuckling, Lianna shakes her head. “I should have known it would be something to do with Pokemon battling. But, you know what, champ? Wait, I guess I can’t call you that anymore.” She bites her lower lip. “You know what, Leon? I think it suits you. Let’s do it.”

Leon smiles, batting his forehead against hers good-naturedly. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

* * *

Galar boasts some of the strongest trainers in the world - and, after her time here, Lianna more than believes it. Leon wants them to be even stronger, not just the gym leaders and the league staff and the challengers, but everyone - so, he’s preoccupied with bringing his concepts for a Battle Tower to the Pokemon League staff and government officials when Lianna returns to her rental home with Rosa for the final time. Their boat leaves tomorrow afternoon, and she needs to pack her things.

Archie and Maxie meet her there to help the two women pack, Stickybun napping peacefully on the sofa while Asher weaves between Lianna’s legs with every step, panting excitedly. “Asher,” Lianna scolds him halfheartedly, shaking her head with a chuckle after she nearly trips over him for the third time that afternoon while walking back and forth from the closet, bringing an armload of clothes with her. Maxie removes them from the hangers, folding them neatly before tucking them away in her suitcase.

Lianna pauses when she pulls the next garment from the closet, fondling the fabric between her fingertips gently. “Ha, this is what I wore the night I met Leon,” she reminiscences fondly, before she removes it from its hanger and passes it to Maxie to fold, “It’s...funny, looking back on that night now.”

“How so?” Maxie asks, quirking a brow as he folds the black cocktail dress into quarters and neatly packs it. 

“Because I never thought that, when I came here for a trip with Rosa, I was going to meet someone...someone I loved,” Lianna says, returning to the closet, emerging a moment later with the last few sweaters and the winter coat she had bought at one of the shops in Wyndon when she first arrived here, “I didn’t think I would even make friends here. But instead...I fell in love. I...didn’t really expect to ever do that again. After everything.”

Maxie glances up at her, folding another sweater, and smiles fondly. “I’m happy for you, Lianna. This is a big step.”

“I never realized it could be like this,” Lianna confesses, folding something only half as neatly as Maxie, who unfolds and refolds it when she passes it to him, “I mean, I guess part of me always knew it could be, just from watching you two. But I never realized  _ I  _ could have something like that, too.”

Maxie watches her from the corner of one eye. “Of course you can, Lianna. You always could. But, you weren’t ready until now. And now that you are, you’ve met someone. He...must mean a lot to you.”

“He does,” Lianna agrees, slipping into the bathroom next door for the toiletries that she hadn’t left at Leon’s. She was planning on spending the night with him tonight, since tomorrow afternoon...would be goodbye, at least for now. She frowns at the thought, returning with a hairbrush and a cosmetic bag with her brows furrowed in visible distress.

Maxie doesn’t seem to notice. But, Archie does, from where he’s seated in the chair in the corner of the room, fingers scratching gently at Asher’s angular ears.

“Say, we’re just about finished ‘ere,” Archie pipes up, “Maxie, why don’t ya go see if Rosa needs any help packin’? Lee an’ I’ll finish up with ‘er things.”

“Good idea,” Maxie agrees, tucking a few things into the suitcase before he dusts his hands off on his trousers and leaves the room, his footsteps vanishing down the hallway. They can hear him talking to Rosa in the neighboring bedroom a moment later.

“Alright, Archie,” Lianna says, arms crossed over her chest as she stands across from him, Asher excitedly running over to nuzzle her thigh. She lowers a hand to stroke him. “What’s going on?”

“Listen, scamp,” Archie says right away, never one to beat about the bush, “Yer a big girl now. Maxie an’ I love ya a whole bunch, ya know that, yeah? But, we’ll be okay without ya.”

“What are you saying?” Lianna demands. She knows what he means, but she wants to hear him say it first.

Archie stands. He towers over her, a menacing man of six and a half feet tall, with an intimidating amount of muscle lacing his burly arms and a matching scar stretched between his eyes in the shape of an X. And yet, his hand falls on her shoulder as gently as a Wooloo’s, squeezing her softly. “Lee, ya gotta stay.”

Lianna’s shoulders slump. She looks down at their feet - hers bare, Archie’s dressed in some ridiculous socks-and-sandals getup - and shudders with a sigh, feeling tears unexpectedly stinging at the corners of her eyes. “I...I know. But, I’m scared, too. I’m scared to leave you guys. You’re my family. You’ve always been there for me. Will you really be okay without me, Archie? Will Daddy? I just don’t want to break his heart.”

Archie tips her chin up with one finger, grinning toothily - but there’s genuinity in those dark grey eyes of his. “Of course we will, scamp. We’re gonna miss ya everyday, but ya can always visit us. An’ we’ll visit ya, too. But...we don’t wanna be the thing that gets in the way of yer happiness. Leon makes ya happy. Stay.”

His rough hand encompasses her entire cheek with ease, easily dwarfing her tiny face. She reaches up to hold it there gently, a tear trickling from the corner of one eye before his thumb swipes it away. “Is it really okay?”

“Yer an adult, scamp. Ya can make yer own decisions without one o’ us tellin’ ya it’s okay,” Archie says, then beams, chuckling throatily, “But of course it’s okay! We wouldn’t have it any other way!”

“And Daddy?” she asks tentatively.

“He’ll understand, Lee. He wants ya to be happy. He wants ya to have yer own life without always worryin’ ‘bout us. Ya were worried ‘bout us back when ya gave up yet championship, an’ he’s felt guilty ever since. So, just let yerself be happy. Stay.”

There are footsteps behind them. Lianna doesn’t have to look to know; she can  _ feel  _ how Maxie is standing in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest, smiling at them in exasperation. “I know you two aren’t having a heart-to-heart without me,” he says, before he closes the space between them to envelop Lianna in a gentle but firm embrace, “Of course it’s okay, Lianna. I want you to be happy. And if you want to be happy here with Leon, then you should be. You’ve already taken care of us for so long. It’s time for us to finally take care of ourselves.”

“You promise you’ll stay out of trouble?” Lianna asks, voice muffled into Maxie’s shoulder as he holds her, a hand gently rubbing circles on her back.

“No promises,” Maxie says, with a rare tone of teasing.

She shoves him gently, chuckling through her tears, before she fetches a tissue from the nightstand to dry her eyes. “You better! I’m not coming to Alola to bail you out again if you wake up another angry legendary!”

“It’s okay, Lee,” Rosa says, entering behind them, clapping a hand over Lianna’s shoulder right away, “I’ll keep an eye on these two. You go get some di -” She stops herself when she remembers that Maxie and Archie are still here. “Your man. You go get your man.”

Maxie adjusts his glasses. “Nice save, Rosa. But yes.”

“Ya deserve to be happy, scamp,” Archie adds, “So, go write yer own happy ending.”

“Very poetic, coming from you, dear,” Maxie chuckles, Archie’s hand now seated on his shoulder, batting his head against his lightly.

“I ‘ave it in me sometimes,” Archie says, chest puffing up slightly with pride.

“So, I’m staying,” Lianna says, patting her eyes with a tissue, “I’m really going to stay…”

Maxie zips her suitcase up, picking it up (with effort) and sitting it upright on the floor. “You are. And I expect you’ll call us everyday.”

“You already know I will,” Lianna chuckles, then springs forward to throw her arms around him and squeeze him as tight as she can without hurting her (and he does hurt easily, being such a fragile, bony man), “Thanks, Daddy.”

He smiles, hugging her back, “Of course, Lianna. I trust you’re meeting us at the docks to see us off tomorrow?”

“Of course. I’m not gonna let you outta my sight without saying goodbye,” she reassures him, “Promise I’ll visit soon. Leon still needs to see Alola.”

“Yeah, and this time, he can challenge me on my home turf!” Rosa adds, punching a fist into her palm comically with a toothy grin. Lianna laughs, too.

She’s going to miss them everyday. These people - Archie and Maxie and Rosa - are her family. They’re a family she forged through trial and hurt and comfort and learning, but they’re her family nonetheless. She wouldn’t trade them for the world. But, they’re right: it’s time for her to write her own happy ending, and it won’t be without them in it.

Leon texts her to let her know that he’ll be late tonight due to his Battle Tower negotiations and she reassures him to take his time, that she’ll just spend the night at the rental house and meet him at the docks tomorrow.

* * *

Lianna watches the sunlight play on the rippling waves of the Hulbury bay, reflecting in sharp golden fractals that remind her of the sparkling gleam in Leon’s eyes when he battles. Leon. Her Leon. Her Leon who she’s going to stay with.

Her Leon who is suddenly hugging her from behind, squeezing her tightly and resting his chin on her head, fortunately free of its snapback today, as he watches the boat destined for Alola shrink smaller and smaller on the horizon, until it disappears from view altogether. “You’re really staying,” he says.

“If I’m not, I’m in trouble,” Lianna chuckles good-naturedly, “There goes my boat.”

“You’re really, really staying,” Leon repeats.

Lianna laughs this time. “Yes, Leon. I’m staying.”

He squeezes her a bit tighter, cautious of the sutures still embedded in her abdomen, which his fingers stroke over lightly as he ventures to touch every inch of her that he reasonably can in public. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“I always will be,” Lianna reassures him, then tilts her head back to meet him halfway for a kiss. Stickybun makes a sound at them that suggests she’s disgusted. Lianna is inclined to agree; this is disgustingly sappy, but she loves every sweet second of it.

“We should head home,” Leon comments after a few minutes, squeezing her hip gently, “Someone has unpacking to do.”

She chuckles in agreement, then lets him lead her home. To his home. To  _ their  _ home. It welcomes them with open arms, warm inside where Wyndon is so very cold, their shoes left side-by-side by the door, caked with ankle-deep snow. Stickybun already has a little basket set aside for her to sleep in on the sofa, cushioned with a warm blanket that welcomes her after the chilly walk home. Lianna leaves her suitcase by the door with her shoes, immediately sinking into Leon’s arms on the sofa as they lay down together in comfortable silence, her body trailing between his legs and her head on his chest where she can listen to the rhythmic drumming of his heartbeat.

“What now, prince?” Lianna asks.

“The Battle Tower is a go,” Leon replies cheerfully, one hand rested on her backside while the other trails through her hair, “Construction should begin soon, to convert Rose Tower into something more suitable for Pokemon battles. As soon as it’s ready, I’ll be working there full-time. It worked out, didn’t it? I can still battle without being champion. And since he’s in prison, Chairman Rose won’t be bothering us anymore, Lee.”

Lianna smiles, playing with a strand of his hair. “Sounds like things are working out perfectly for you, champ.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t be happier with the way things turned out for me, for us,” Leon muses, then tips her chin up to look at him with a knowing smile, “There’s one more thing, Lee. Something I overheard back during the gym challenge, and wanted to run by you.”

She arches a brow. “What’s that?”

“Kabu, the fire-type gym leader, is getting older now and he’s looking to retire as soon as possible,” Leon informs her, grinning slyly, “He’s going to need a replacement.”

Lianna scoffs. “What? Me?”

“You don’t have to say yes on my behalf, but I think you’re perfect for it,” Leon says, “And besides...wasn’t your dad a fire-type user? It’s in your blood, Lee!” He chuckles, ruffling her hair playfully, and she gives him a playful little shove. “Think about it. If not, I’m sure we could find somewhere for you at the Battle Tower once it’s ready! I’m sure plenty of trainers would like to try their luck with the Hoenn ex-champ!”

Lianna shakes her head at him, chuckling good-naturedly. “What, you’re not going to let me be a stay-at-home mom?”

She realizes what she’s said a moment too later, immediately sucking her lower lip in, eyes widening. Leon’s eyes are equally wide, his thick black brows arched high enough to disappear underneath the shaggy fringe of his bangs.

“Oh,” Leon says.

“Oh,” Lianna repeats.

She’s about to apologize when he silences her with a soft kiss, fingers stroking lightly at her cheeks. “You’re right, we should have kids. Not right now, of course, but...someday,” he says when he pulls away, grinning at the thought, “Someday.”

“You’d really want that? ...with me?” Lianna frankly gapes, her kiss-reddened lips parted in a little O of surprise.

“Of course I would,” Leon says, smiling, “I love you, Lianna. I want to spend my life with you. I want to do  _ everything  _ with you.”

Lianna is quiet. Then, unexpectedly, she sniffles. “Really? With  _ me _ ?”

“Really,” Leon reassures her, then leans forward to kiss her tears away, “Because you’re my safeword.”

“I’m what?”

“You said it to me once,” Leon says, smiling as he fondles her cheek, squeezing her close, “You said I was your safeword. Well, you’re mine, too.”

She chuckles through a fresh round of tears that he’s already kissing away. “You’re an idiot, Leon.”

“Yeah, but I’m your idiot,” he laughs, then kisses her again. Soon, the two are descending into giggles and laughs and soft kisses and tears. Lianna still can’t understand what she’s done to deserve  _ this _ , to deserve Leon, to deserve a happy ending with someone who loves her in spite of what she’s been through, in spite of her baggage and her hurt and her problems. There are nights when she still has nightmares about the monsters in her closet - and Leon is always there to comfort her, to kiss away tears, to hold her close until she can sleep again. There are times when things still hurt - but they hurt less with Leon. She wasn’t broken. No one ever needed to fix her, least of all him. But, he still  _ betters  _ her, fills in the gaps that had kept her for so long from being truly whole. For so long, she’s had a question, and now she has her answer. Her Leon.

Her safeword. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last full-on chapter, but there will be an epilogue to tie up any loose ends soon! :)


	23. Epilogue

Lianna contemplates how her life has changed as she sits on the well-worn sofa in the sun room of Leon’s flat -  _ her  _ flat - with a textbook on fire-type Pokemon forgotten across her lap, Stickybun seated between her ankles on the other end of the couch as she watches the snow fall outside, building up a steady carpet of white on the Wyndon streets and sidewalks.

It’s been five years since she met Leon, since she defeated Chairman Rose, since he fell as champion, since she moved to Galar. Two more months and she’ll turn twenty-nine. The world has mostly forgotten her as the runaway former Hoenn champion, and come to know her as Galar’s fire-type gym leader instead, the woman who replaced Kabu and brought his former gym from the third to the seventh in the gym leader bracket, seconded only by Raihan and ranking just above Marnie, who has taken over Piers’ gym in her older brother’s stead. She has a new competitive team now, five fire-types, jubilant and youthful and strong, and her old team has finally retired - except on the days when Leon playfully challenges her to a battle in their backyard and Kaizen the Manectric refuses to sit out on the fun. Their backyard is more ashen burnt bits of brush and shrubbery and electrocuted fence posts gone black with the strike of lightning than it is sweet suburban bliss, but neither of them would have it any other way. Leon wins most of their battles - but, every once in awhile, Lianna will have some trick up her sleeve, something that surprises him. He isn’t so undefeated anymore, and he couldn’t be prouder.

Lianna watches him now through the glass pane of their backdoor. He’s spending his lazy Sunday afternoon throwing a frisbee for Asher, her Mightyena, outside in the snow. Asher is old now, his muzzle gone greyer than ever, and his arthritis keeps him mostly rooted to the ground now, when he would have been leaping three feet into the sky to catch frisbees in his youth - that is, until Kaizen swoops in from the sidelines and catches it for him, Asher yipping after her indignantly as he gives chase across the yard. Lianna chuckles as she watches. Leon’s Charizard watches, too, from where he’s curled up in the corner of the sunroom, drinking in the sun’s lazy rays as they filter through the snow clouds outside, sapped of most of their warmth by the chilling winter cold. He, too, is much older now, Leon’s companion since the man was a mere twelve years old, but he hasn’t slowed down one bit. He’s still as much of a monster on the battlefield as he had been in his prime ten years prior, the champion of the Battle Tower that Leon now runs and partakes in. Thanks to him, Galar’s trainers are stronger than ever, their league among the forerunners in all the world.

There are times when Lianna misses Alola, when she misses Archie and Maxie, when she misses Rosa (and even her bullheaded idiot of a boyfriend, Guzma) - but she visits them all twice a year, now with Leon at her side. The beaches she spent years calling her home somehow feel a little brighter when she shares them with him. Maybe it’s because she’s spent time away from them and forgotten what they’re like, or maybe it’s because she’s no longer spending every day of her life on them and taking them for granted. Or maybe Leon’s smile just really is that bright.

Everyone else seems to be doing equally well for themselves. Aisling is the new Undefeatable Champion, and she has been since the day she defeated Leon five years ago. Hop chose to become a Pokemon professor after his dreams of being champion were vanquished, and it suits him twice as well. Leon’s mother has apparently been dating Aisling’s mother for the past eight years, but Lianna had to figure that much out for herself, because Leon and Hop certainly weren’t going to, despite the two regularly spending the night together well into their forties and fifties, which was definitely older than most people had casual sleepovers. Lianna had teased Leon about it for two weeks straight after she finally figured it out herself and realized he still hadn’t; hell, she still teases him about it when the opportunity arises. He makes it too easy.

The cold must start to bother Leon, because he leaves Kaizen and Asher to their game of keepaway and retreats back inside, stomping snow off his shoes on the step. His Charizard lifts his head to acknowledge him with a purr of a growl as he comes inside, while Stickybun opens her eyes and squawks at him. Lianna laughs. “She says you better take your shoes off, I just vacuumed the carpet,” she says.

Leon laughs, too, shucking his boots off by the door obediently. “Does she? Did she help with said vacuuming?”

“Of course not, she doesn’t have thumbs,” Lianna retorts, remembering the textbook spread across her lap and closing it to set aside, pulling her legs up to give Leon space to sit down on the sofa between her and Sticky, “She doesn’t even have arms. Or legs. Or anything. She’s just a slimeball.”

“A slimeball who oozed all over the kitchen floor because I was ten minutes late with her breakfast this morning,” Leon adds, plopping down and discarding his snow-caked gloves to pet the Goomy in question. She purrs.

“Ten minutes? Five minutes and I might have taken your side. But ten minutes? Unacceptable,” Lianna remarks, laying her legs across his lap. She immediately regrets it; his pants legs are cold and dappled with snow.

“Excuse you, I slipped on her slime trail and almost fell face-first into the dishwasher,” Leon laughs, grinning good-naturedly, the way he almost always is. He’s a man who’s hard to get down, Lianna has learned. She’s had five years to learn everything there is to know about him: how his legs look better in denim than they did in athletic compression stockings, how he snores if he rolls onto his back in his sleep (and he usually does), how he leaves his wet towels on the floor in the master bathroom, how the crease has started to linger for a few seconds longer between his brows when he furrows them. He hasn’t changed much at all in five years; he’s thirty-one, but he doesn’t seem a day over twenty-five, as energetic and youthful and bullheaded as ever. And she loves all those things about him, even though she usually only discovers his rumpled wet towels on the bathroom floor  _ after  _ Sticky has, and then she has to fight her for them.

“Can’t have that,” Lianna agrees, nudging him in the ribs with her toes, where he’s ticklish. He quickly swipes her foot up in a cold hand and she jerks it away, hissing. “I need your pretty face intact. No slipping on Goomy slime and breaking your nose on the dishwasher, that thing’s warranty’s expired.”

“Didn’t know my nose had a warranty,” Leon quips. Lianna kicks at him; he fights back by pressing a cold clammy palm to her calf, until she scrambles away from him, tucking her legs up under herself protectively. He leans back for a moment and studies her, one thick black brow arched, then his expression softens into a tender smile. “You look cute today.”

“Thanks, prince, but I look cute everyday,” she chuckles, before dipping forward to peck him gently on the cheek, “and so do you.”

“True,” Leon agrees with a grin, before he’s slipping his arms around her waist and dragging her into his embrace to cuddle, the touch of his outermost layer of clothing temporarily cold before her body heat warms it, melting any residual flecks of snow. Their shifting and moving makes Stickybun lift her head and scowl at them, before she slithers farther away from them to settle back down and resume her nap. Honestly, she hasn’t been able to take a nice undisturbed nap since these two assholes met.

Leon’s honey-amber eyes follow Stickybun’s retreat with a smile in them, before he reclines back into the sofa with Lianna in his arms and comments, “She never did evolve.”

“She never wanted to,” Lianna replies, “and I never made her. It’s her choice.”

“I know,” Leon says, “but sometimes, I wonder why.”

Lianna shrugs. “Guess she just wants to be our baby forever.”

Leon chuckles. “Or just doesn’t want to subject herself to the mortifying ordeal of having limbs.”

“If I could just be a sphere and propel myself everywhere with the force of slime alone, I would consider it, not gonna lie,” Lianna laughs. Leon laughs with her, his chest rumbling pleasantly underneath her. She cups at a pretty pec with one hand, toying with the collar of his shirt, as she settles into his embrace and savors his warmth. From day-to-day, they’re both busy, Leon with the Battle Tower, Lianna with her gym. But, on the weekends, both are closed, and they’re busy only with each other. These little moments - cooking together and royally screwing it up, playing with their Pokemon in the snow, arguing about battle tactics, feuding for the remote - stand out to her more than all the big ones. These are moments that she thought she would never have, that she never deserved. Leon showed her otherwise and then some.

The silence is comfortable and entirely pleasant, but eventually, Lianna breaks it, “I kinda want ice cream.”

“It’s like twenty degrees out,” Leon comments.

“Thanks for the update, weatherboy, I still want ice cream,” Lianna remarks, tapping him playfully on the tip of his nose. He smiles, kissing the air at her. She leans down and lets him kiss more than the air, if only for a moment, before she’s pulling away and getting up, venturing off to the kitchen. She returns a few minutes later with an ice cream sandwich, still enclosed in silvery foil, a cup of cheap instant hot chocolate for Leon (which he insists on buying, even when she argues that there are  _ infinitely  _ better brands available), and...something else.

She sits his mug down on the side table to cool, unwraps her ice cream sandwich, and tosses him something. 

“Oh, by the way,” Lianna remarks as he catches it deftly in one hand and blinks at it. It’s some little white plastic stick. “ _ That  _ happened.”

Leon stares at it for a moment, blinking uncomprehending. Lianna can almost hear the gears turning in his head, then she sees the exact moment when it  _ clicks. _

He flings the plastic stick away, shaking his hand. “Ew, Lianna, you peed on this!”

Lianna snorts with laughter, biting into her ice cream sandwich and giving herself a hot flash of brain freeze for half a second before it passes. “You’ve had your face in my  _ entire ass  _ and you’re worried about that? And I  _ washed it _ , dumbass!”

It isn’t the romantic reveal Lianna’s seen in romcoms and Hallmark channel Christmas specials, but she never intended for it to be. Maybe she lacks the flare that Leon has, but she thought now was as good a time as any to make her big announcement - when Leon is red-nosed and snotty from being out in the snow for several hours too long and her mouth is crammed full of ice cream and soft cookie bliss. And she thinks it suits them.

Leon kisses her before she’s even had the chance to swallow what’s in her mouth, but it’s fortunately soft, sweet, and quick. He pulls her back down in his arms, beaming up at her with all the stars in the sky suddenly shining in his honey-golden eyes. “You’re really pregnant?”

“Would I have handed you a pee stick if I wasn’t?” Lianna snarks through a full mouth, chuckling bemusedly, “I sure am! Crazy, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Leon agrees, nodding absentmindedly as he holds her in both arms, pressed close to his barrel chest. He seems calm, but Lianna can feel his heart hammering through his two layers of clothing and the wall of his chest. “How do you...feel?”

“Happy,” Lianna surmises, polishing off her ice cream sandwich and dropping the wrapper on the coffee table behind them. She went through it disturbingly quickly and it’s her third one today, but he doesn’t need to know that. “Don’t get me wrong, prince. I’m  _ scared _ . I’ve never been pregnant before. And childbirth sounds  _ horrifying _ . But, I’m happy. I wouldn’t like anything more than this.”

Leon smiles and touches his forehead to hers. There’s ice cream stuck in the corners of her lips and she’s beautiful and she’s his. “I’m glad. I’ll be right here with you, every step of the way.”

Lianna shrugs. “I thought it was time we got started on the whole kids thing. Since you want a big family, and I’m already pushing thirty. I figure, if we start now, we can have three or four before I’m considered high-risk.”

He chuckles. “Three or four, huh?”

“Maybe. Depends on how this first one goes,” Lianna laughs, then presses her forehead back to his. She’s found herself doing this often, and him doing it nearly twice as much. She doesn’t know why they do it, but they do and she loves it and she loves him. “We’ve got this, right? We’re two former champions. You took a direct hit from a legendary and didn’t die. A baby should be nothing on us, right?”

Leon pecks her on the tip of the nose, squeezing her hips reassuringly. One glimpse of his honey-golden eyes, deep as amber, and she already knows. But, he says it, anyways.

“We’ve got this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boom, the end. I wrote this epilogue in the latter half of a graveyard shift at the extremely haunted hospital I happen to work at, so I can only imagine it's going to read like an acid trip. Anyone who's made it this far, thank you so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed it and I did these characters some sort of justice! <3


End file.
